Is This Sound Okay?
by SunshineSong
Summary: Death City Kid is an aspiring band. They're looking for something add to their sound & increase their following. Just when it seemed like they never would, their manager brings in an old friend with a unique sound and talent to boot. AU. MXS.
1. Death City Kid

**Hello! :3**

**Song here! This is my first story I'm publishing on this site and my first bit of Soul Eater fan fiction. I used to write fan fiction often a long time ago but one day I just sort of stopped though I still read it. Annnnyy-hoo! I just sort of felt like throwing myself into the writing of it again. I'm a little rusty I think haha so be gentle with me. I apologize for any OOC-ness, I tried to stick to what I feel the characters are like as much as possible but keep in mind it is AU! So without further adieu, please enjoy!**

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN SOUL EATER. (Obviously) Nor do I own the song "Is This Sound Okay?" By Coconut Records. (Selected as title to this piece of fan fiction)  
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_One: Death City Kid_

"Next!" the shouted word brushed off a despaired looking girl; she pushed her way past the curtain and out of the room clutching a guitar. The room wasn't particularly large, the lounge in a hole in the wall bar. Dim lights, a mostly empty round stage but for a piano with a sheet thrown over it. Tables and chairs were spaced around the stage, normally pushed back so people had room to dance if they felt like it. A table had been dragged up closer to the stage for the moment. The only occupied table in the room.

The person who'd brushed off the despaired girl sighed heavily, leaning back in her seat. She held a clipboard in her hands and twirled the end of one of her blonde pigtails around her finger as her eyes browsed its content. One of the others at the table, another girl with sheets of black hair pulled up in a high ponytail, leaned forward a bit; whispering unnecessarily, "You could have let her down a little easier." Her dark blue, nearly black eyes shone earnestly. "She didn't know we weren't looking for another guitarist." The blonde frowned and put down the clipboard.

"I know Tsubaki," she exhaled. "I'm just impatient, we're getting nowhere." Another girl at the table, also blonde; though clearly a little older than the first, looked up from painting her nails with a bottle of dark purple nail polish. "I don't know, I kind of agree with Maka. You'd think they would read the flyer before showing up," she mumbled before blowing on her nails to help them dry. The pig-tailed girl, Maka, shrugged and plucked at the pile of flyers on the table. A smaller girl who clearly resembled the eldest girl that had spoken was folding the flyers into origami shapes. She fashioned a paper hat and laughed hysterically after placing it on the nail polish girls head. "Here you go Liz!" Liz frowned and removed it gingerly, careful to avoid smudging her fresh nail polish.

"Patti please," she mumbled. The smaller girl snatched the elder ones wrists to examine her nails. She'd painted them a dark, plum color and done a different design on each nail in white.

"Ooo, pretty sis, but Kid's gonna lose it when he see's them," she cackled. Liz shrugged.

"He can deal, I saw it done in a magazine, its neat huh?" The two of them chattered about nails and Maka twitched in her seat, Tsubaki bit her lip nervously; sensing what was coming.

Maka sipped her drink and then put down the glass a little harder than she intended. "Can you two please take this seriously?" she sniped. Liz rolled her eyes and Patti laughed.

"We are taking it seriously, we're just not letting it take over our lives. Chill Maka, we'll find what we're looking for. When we see it, we'll know."

"Maybe we should just forget about finding someone to add to our sound and get someone to bang a tambourine mindlessly to the beat," Maka mused.

"Like a monkey!" Patti clapped.

"Well that would certainly be entertaining," Liz conceded as she showed Tsubaki her nails; she murmured appreciatively.

A door to the side of the stage swung open and a red-haired man popped his head. "Shall I send the next one in Maka darling?" Maka purposely looked away from him to the clipboard, intentionally not looking him in the face as she spoke. "Go ahead Papa." With shining eyes he saluted goofily and disappeared behind the door again.

"It was really sweet of your Dad to let us use his bar for auditions," Tsubaki commented. Maka's mouth set in a frown and her shoulders tensed.

"Yeah sure, real nice." She hadn't wanted to use his bar, she hated feeling like she owed him. During one of his regular stalking sessions he'd overheard her complaining to Liz that they needed somewhere to hold auditions; he'd then proceeded to leap out of nowhere offering his bar. The other girls had all jumped on the idea and Maka hadn't been able to refuse or she would have felt like the biggest bitch. The band came first after all.

Four more audition's came in, each one more forgettable than the last. Grimacing, Maka rubbed her temple's she was distinctly feeling a headache coming on. Patti was absently playing with her paper creations, obviously having already lost any major interest in them. Liz had her head on her arm, hiding her face; Maka knew she was probably sleeping, hiding her face to avoid being disturbed. A chime rang and the table shook as a phone vibrated across it. Liz started awake and Maka avoided commenting on that fact that she'd slept through the last audition. Tsubaki plucked her phone off the table and flipped it open to view her text message. "Its Black Star," she told the three pairs of curious and expectant eyes watching her.

"What's he want?" Liz pried. Tsubaki smiled a little and flipped her phone closed again, putting it back on the table. "He says not to go anywhere, he has someone he wants us to meet." Maka sighed and sat back, all the names on her clipboard had been crossed off, they'd already seen everyone. "I don't know if I'm up for meeting anyone else today, besides remember the last one Black Star insisted we listen to?" The phone buzzed again and Tsubaki picked it up. Her face split into a wide smile and she passed the open phone to Maka. Maka scanned the text with clenched teeth.

**Black*** : **P.S. Tell Maka to STFU Imm the bandz mnger & I say ur gonna give this guy a chance. **

Maka put the phone on the table and slid it towards Tsubaki. Liz intercepted, able to move her fingers more nimbly now that her nail polish had dried. She grinned at Maka after reading it. "Its creepy how well you two predict each others moves." Maka stuck her tongue out at Liz. Patti whined about wanting to see the message too as her older sister handed the phone back to Tsubaki.

"So it's a guy," Tsubaki said, tucking the phone into her pocket. Liz nodded and gave Maka a sideways look.

"Apparently," she said coolly, not wanting to address her issue with this at the moment. It would end with an argument. The others would say she was opposed to adding male talent to the band because of her Daddy issues and Maka would deny and deny, claiming she didn't want to because of 'girl power' or something that sounded even more lame because she couldn't phrase it convincingly enough.

Spirit, Maka's Papa, swooped into the bar; the door he'd just entered through thumping closed loudly behind him. He was carrying a tray with drinks on it. He put it on the table with a grin like a puppy waiting to be praised for doing a trick. "Its on the house," he said cheerfully. The girl's leaned forward and plucked drinks off the tray chorusing thank-you; Maka ignored the drink meant for her studiously, flipping through pages on her clipboard she'd already seen. Tsubaki eventually leaned forward and removed the extra drink from the tray and placed it on the table gently. Spirit picked up the tray dejectedly and wandered over to the bar to take care of some sort of duty to prepare for the evening. Liz yawned and stretched in her seat. "How long did Black Star say he's gonna be?" she asked. "I wanted to go home and shower before tonight." Tsubaki glanced at the clock on her phone.

"Not long, he should be here any minute." Patti was chasing an ice cube around with a straw in her now empty drink, annoyed with the sound of it sliding around in the glass Liz took it from her and placed it out of her reach, Patti pouted for a moment but quickly became occupied with her paper creations again.

Twenty minutes passed and Maka was getting impatient. "Leave it up to Black Star to think we have nothing better to do than wait around for him," she grumbled. Tsubaki sighed and gave her a rueful smile. "He just doesn't think sometimes." Liz sat up in her seat abruptly from being leaned over on the table. "If he's not here in five minutes I swear to god-" The door to the bar burst open and a hurricane of blue hair and mad laughter hurdled through it.

"Ladies, ladies! Never fear, it is I, your great and powerful manager!" Maka covered her face with her hand in annoyance, rubbing her eyes. Black Star stood nearby frozen in what she was sure he imagined was a heroic pose. He stepped out of his pose and then strode towards them. "Way to be on time Black Star," Liz chided. "I'm going to have to rush my shower now." Patti laughed. Maka folded her arms across her chest. "So, where is this guy we 'had to see'?" Black Star grinned and ran a hand through his blue hair, he always insisted it was natural, nobody believed that of course.

"He's coming, hold your horses Maka." She raised a delicate eyebrow unable to remain stoic at his choice of words. He shrugged unapologetic as he slumped into a chair beside Tsubaki. "I swear your girls are gonna love'em, I picked him after all so how could he not be great?" Tsubaki smiled in quiet amusement.

"How did you find him?" she asked interrupting his jabbering.

"I've known him for ages! We met in high school, he left the country though and spent two years travelling. He just got back a month ago, I ran into him in a café playing and he was damn good, just like a remember. Music's always been his thing. Now me, I've always been too much of a star people wouldn't be able to handle it if I performed, its better I attempt to teach others to be as much of a star as me. Not that its possible-" he continued to ramble about himself and Maka zoned out, oh yes, she definitely felt a headache coming on.

The door leading into the lounge portion of bar from the street swung open, a gust of wind from the street ruffling the papers on the table. The girl's blinked, eyes adjusting from the blast of natural light that had come and gone so quickly when the door opened. The door swung shut and a boy stood in the room now. Hands stuffed in his pockets his gaze swept over them lazily. Shock white hair fell stylishly untidy. He looked bored but Maka thought it was an intentional boredom, an 'I'm too cool for this but because I'm so cool I'm here anyway' kind of look. Black Star stood up and went over to the newcomer, slapping him on the back. "This is him!" he crowed, "My man, Soul 'Eater' Evans!" Maka's eyebrows shot up at his name but she didn't comment. The other's were introducing themselves, he just nodded at them in response, that annoying 'I'm too impressive to say hello like I normal person so I'll just nod' at you kind of nod. She grit her teeth and muttered her name in introduction, she already didn't like him.

"What do you play?" Tsubaki asked kindly. Soul glanced at her.

"Guitar, ukulele, bass, drums a bit. Though when it comes down to, the piano has my heart." Patti clapped in delight and Liz grinned.

"Piano! That's something we haven't heard, well get on it!" She gestured to the stage.

Soul walked up to the stage and tugged the sheet off of the piano in a swift movement. It pooled at his feet and he stepped over it to take a seat at the bench. The piano wasn't anything fancy, small enough that it didn't take up the whole stage. It rarely got used and was left around mostly for show. He opened the cover and ran a hand along the keys once before starting, no sheet music, just from memory. The first few notes rang out clearly in the bar and a hush came over his audience. Maka didn't recognize the piece though she felt oddly tuned to it like she had known it once only to forget it. As much as she wanted to hate it she couldn't, her eyes slipped closed and she let the melody wash over her. She had expected something pretentious or flashy but this was just…not. It was raw and beautiful, emotional…completely unexpected.

Throat dry she realized the music stopped and she opened her eyes again. The girls were clapping wildly and Black Star was yelling about how Soul was his friend and how he was the greatest for bringing him there. She swallowed the lump in her throat and brought herself to clap too. She began to feel sick, how could she say no to him, the others would never hear of it. She could already imagine how they would sound with him as a part of their musical collaboration. He closed the case quietly and stood, turning to face them. Everyone was standing and babbling about how he was in and they all agreed he was fantastic. She wasn't really paying attention to what they were saying but she understood the gist of it. Suddenly she realized they were all staring at her; Liz looked expectant, Patti eager, Tsubaki looked nervous and Black Star had nothing but a challenge in his eyes. She realized they had asked her what she thought of the performance, if she agreed to him joining them. Her lips parted, mouth hanging open for a moment as she struggled to form the words. "Yes," she said, sounding more dejected that excited. They burst into cheers all chattering about how thrilled they were.

"Hold it," a rough voice interrupted. Maka snapped out of her daze and her eyes darted to look at the male who would be infiltrating her all female band soon. His brow was furrowed, lips turned down in a frown. "I never said I would be joining you…" In that moment they all had similar looks of confusion. Maka felt like she'd been sentenced to death only to get a last minute reprieve.

"But we thought…" Tsubaki trailed off hesitantly. He shook his head, white hair falling in his eyes, he pushed it out of the way impatiently. "I'm sorry, you thought wrong. I haven't even heard you all play. I'm not signing up for a band I haven't even heard. I agreed to come here because Black Star said you were good, nothings official until I hear you all in action too." Black star nodded vigorously.

"Sounds fair, sounds about right." Liz grinned and shuffled through the assorted flyers on the table, plucking one from the pile she handed it to him. He looked down at it curiously.

"We have a gig later tonight, come watch." He flashed a smile and nodded.

"Done."

The gig was in the same place they'd held the auditions. They often played at Spirits bar, he hired them whenever they were available mostly to force Maka into being around him more often. He was an avid supporter and the nights they played he made his staff wear band shirts. Despite its dive qualities the bar was fairly popular with a lot of traffic, a combination of plenty of regulars and bar hoppers who came through for the live music. There were two floors, the lower floor where the bands played and the top floor where those who weren't keen on the live music could eat and drink.

Soul sat at a table near the front, he fiddled with the label of his beer, peeling the edges. His eyes wandered the bar as he waited. A waitress with bright purple hair caught his eye from across the bar. She winked at him and he tried to look unsurprised when she started towards him from across the room. She reached the table and slipped into the chair closest to him. He furrowed his brow and she grinned at him and folded her arms across an ample chest. The t-shirt she was wearing was about two sizes too small. Her breasts pushing against the fabric in a desperate attempt to be freed. It was a black band t, the name was written in bold white letters 'Death City Kid". She mistook him reading her shirt for ogling and she leaned in closer, batting her golden eyes at him. "What's your name cutie?" she chirped. He blinked feeling very unsure of himself.

"Err, its Soul." She appeared completely thrilled by this and threw her arms around his neck, pushing her chest against him. He could feel the flush creep up his face and he tried to push her off but she squealed excitedly in his ear. "You're the one that's going to be joining the band! How exciting! I'm Blair!" she pulled back. "I've been thinking those girls needed some eye candy to apply to their female fans for awhile now!" she practically purred. "Nyah, you're in for a treat. DCK is great!" He nodded absently as she stood again, he then had time to notice she was wearing a ridiculously short skirt, her long legs and hips at eye level. She tugged the skirt down a bit and winked at him again, ruffling his hair before prancing away to tend to her tables. The back of her shirt was adorned with a cartoon skull; the letters 'DWMA' printed beneath it, the letters curling along the bottom of the drawing. He wondered absently what it stood for.

"Soul! Blair giving you trouble?" Black Star laughed. Black Star slid into the seat across from him, he'd brought someone with him. Another guy who looked about the same age as them took a seat too. He had pitch black hair, three white horizontal streaks on the right side of his head. He was dressed smartly in a black suit. He glanced over, amber eyes flashing. Black Star gestured to him.

"Soul, this is Kid, he's Liz's boyfriend." Kid nodded to greeting.

"Charmed."

"His Dad's a big shot producer. He owns Death Scythe Records." Soul raised his eyebrows.

"What are these guys doing playing in this hole if one of their boyfriends have got connections." Kid shrugged.

"I offered to hook them up but the girls want to make it on their own. They don't like getting hand outs and don't want anyone to be able to claim they made it on anything but their talent." Soul mentally catalogued his being impressed by this, he would examine it at a later time. Black Star sighed. "And his Dad didn't really like them enough." Kid sighed too.

"Its ridiculous but true. I gave him a tape and he said they were just not what he was looking for."

"Which is completely stupid," Black Star practically shouted, "I mean come on, I'm their manager so they must good, I don't just manage anybody."

Soul glanced at the stage, the girls had emerged at some point while they'd been talking. They were setting up their instruments and going through a sound check.

"Check, check, check," a voice rang out through the mic, the sound of a finger tapping on it followed. Maka stood in the dim light of the stage with a guitar slung over her shoulder, hanging by a strap. She adjusted the mic to a comfortable height as Soul took a moment to observe her as he hadn't been able to earlier. She had changed from earlier. Her hair still in pigtails this time the ends were curled though. She was dressed in a black form fitting blazer, the sleeves rolled up and the front open revealing a shirt striped a-symmetrically in thin black and white stripes. Her lower half was dressed in a pair of cut-offs and a beat up looking pair of black high tops. She looked up suddenly, her eyes meeting his; annoyed at himself for being caught staring he tried to look away like it was nothing. She looked furious and turned away abruptly to sound check her guitar. Startled, he glanced over the other girls, they'd all changed from earlier too.

Liz, clutching her guitar wore grey and black leopard print leggings with airy looking metallic top, black ankle high-heeled boots on her feet. She wore a beaded band around her head with a feathered end, her hair loose with a shaggy look about it. Patti who was fiddling with her drum set had changed into black and white vertical striped halter, a pair of black skinny jeans and green sneaker flats; she'd placed a small black fedora further back on her head, her short hair left natural. Tsubaki was tuning her bass, her hair was up in its signature high ponytail, she'd picked a black velvet dress that grazed her thighs, it had a sweetheart cut at the bust and then continued up to her neck in black mesh, knee high black heeled boots completing her ensemble. The black bass drum had the same white cartoon skull on it as the back of Blair's shirt.

The grating sound of nails scraping across the table drew his attention away from the girls on stage. Kid dragged his hand back from the table a look of horror on his face. Soul gave him an alarmed look. "Uh what's wrong Dude?" Kid gave him a sideways look.

"Don't you see it!" he hissed. Soul glanced in the direction Kid was looking, he was staring up at the stage with his same horrified expression but Soul couldn't see what was wrong. Black Star sighed exasperatedly as Kid continued. "Their symmetry…its all wrong…what on earth was Maka thinking when she picked that shirt! And Liz, how could my darling Liz do this to me, only _one side_ of her headband has a feather…wrong all wrong!" he covered his face and peeked through his fingers as if he were watching something particularly terrifying but couldn't look away. "And Tsubaki, her ponytail is off, its not in the center of her head! Patti dear Patti… what she's wearing almost makes up for it…" he clenched his fists. "If she wasn't wearing only one bracelet on her left side!" Soul gave him a look as if he had lost his mind. "Wh-what?" he managed, unsure what to say. As Kid trembled his head in his hands Black Star slapped him on the back as he stood.

"He'll be fine, he's got a little problem with symmetry. Buck up man, just pay attention to their music try not to think about their clothes." Kid moaned and put his head on the table. Black Star grinned at Soul. "Anyways, I've gotta go speak with Spirit and discuss our pay for this evening." Soul nodded and Black Star weaved his way through the crowd towards the red-haired bar owner.

The already dim lights in the bar dimmed further a few minutes after Black Star had excused himself. For a moment the bar was black, everyone in the room fell silent, only the muted sounds of people on the upper floor could be heard. A bass line started in the dark, constant, almost eerie. The stage lit up in a burst of light, the girls coming into view, Tsubaki still plucked away on that deep bass line. Maka flashed a confident smile to the crowd, leaning into the mic and breaking out in the first clear note, her voice mingling with Tsubaki's bass. An abrupt change in Maka's tone, her voice growing harsh and raw for a moment, signalled the others; the drums and guitar leapt in. The crowd's excited tension broke like a wave and a crowd began to grow closer to the stage.

The song was heavier than Soul expected from them, but Maka's clear, higher voice entwined with the heavy music beautifully. When Tsubaki added her back up vocal's to Maka's it was like magic. Soul could not deny he was impressed. They broke into an instrumental, Maka rocking back on her heels in time to the music as she played furiously with the others; the emotion, the passion pouring off her was tangible, he could almost taste it.

He struggled to take his eyes off her and observe the rest of the band. They had good chemistry, each taking on their own stage persona. Patti was throwing off wild energy, her arms moving like fluid as she played. Liz cool and confident, giving off a air of surety. Tsubaki more subdued and concentrated, a determined expression. His gaze was drawn back to Maka, so involved in the music, the tension he'd felt in her before slipping away as she lost herself in the notes, her expression unguarded. The lyric's were darker than he expected. The whole performance blowing his presumptions to pieces. The crowd swayed to the beat methodically and Soul felt his own leg tapping along too.

They followed up with a few more upbeat tunes and then slipped in a slower song, a cover, then proceeded to bang out a few more upbeat tunes of their own. The crowd screamed for more and the girl's happily complied with an encore, a heart wrenching tune Maka shortly introduced titled as 'Burning'. The song came to a close as Maka murmured the last lyric softly, the music dying out. The lights went dark on stage and the rest of the bar lit up dimly again, the girls no longer on stage.

Kid stood up, having calmed down as the band was playing. When he focused on the music he was able to disregard his issues with their wardrobe for a little while. He glanced down at Soul. "I'm going to go congratulate them on a great show, did you want to come too?" Black Star hadn't returned and Soul wondered absently where he'd been for the performance.

"In a bit, I'm going to finish my drink and head to the washroom," he said, Blair had been consistently bringing him drinks throughout the show, he had a full beer still. Kid shrugged and disappeared into the slowly thinning crowd. Soul observed the crowd for a little bit while he polished off his drink. People were slowly making their way out, lines of people coming down from upstairs to head out too.

He rose and began weaving his way towards the bathrooms. The traffic was moving against him though, frowning he was pushed up against a door beside the stage for a moment. Not wanting to continue battling against the crowd he figured he'd duck through the door and see if he could go around and avoid them.

Inside the door was an empty, poorly lit hallway; one of the lights flickered distractingly. It appeared to lead down to another doorway, the hall turning at the end. He walked a little, really needing to visit the restroom now. As he reached the end of the hallway he paused, voices reaching him from around the corner. He peered around the corner only to spot Maka, though she wasn't alone.

There was a guy with her, blonde hair styled in spikes, his back was facing Soul so he couldn't see much else. He had her pressed up against the wall and Maka looked nervous, chewing her lip. Soul was unsure what to do. Eavesdropping was definitely not cool and they seemed to be having a pretty private conversation. Something in her expression made him angry though, this guy was clearly upsetting her. Unable to help himself, despite his earlier need to relieve himself and not wanting to give himself away he remained where he was. Maka's voice filled his ears.

"No Chris…I told you already, just no…" The blonde leaned in closer.

"Come on Maka baby, how many times do I have to tell you I'm sorry. It'll never happen again." She shook her head. "I'm tired of you apologizing, how many times has it been now. I don't believe it anymore."

"But you were so _hot_ tonight," he practically growled, leaning in further. "I just can't resist you when I see you play. Its just so _sexy._" He pushed his head into the crook of her neck, Soul assumed to press his lips against it. Maka, whose hands had been at her side until now, placed her palms against his chest and shoved. "I said no!" she told him firmly. Chris stood back for a moment, Soul wished he could see his face. Abruptly he pushed himself against her again, his hand grabbing her chin and forcing her took at him. "Listen you little bitch, you are _mine_. That means when I want some, you give it to me." Her eyes burned as she glared at him. Soul trembled, about to step in, no longer able to watch this bastard act like such an ass. Then to Soul's complete shock; Maka spat in his face. Howling with rage Chris shoved her roughly against the wall a resounding crack echoing in the hall as her head struck the wall. Chris raised his fist, clearly about to strike her but as he swung back he found his arm couldn't swing forward again to strike.

Soul had leapt out of hiding, catching Chris' wrist. The blonde gave him a look of disbelief over his shoulder. Quick as a flash Soul twisted Chris around and threw him against the opposite wall. Maka stood with wide eyes, her mouth hanging open a little. If looks could kill, Chris' most certainly would have resulted in a bloody murder. "Who the fuck are you?" Chris swore, his face twisted with fury. Soul sneered at him. "None of you're god damned business, all you need to know is you don't hit girls, get the fuck out!" He pointed to the door.

"Why should I?" Chris snapped. "This is none of your concern." He tried to move past Soul to Maka again; who still hadn't moved from where she stood watching the scene play out in silence. Soul threw his arm out and Chris' nostril's flared at being blocked again. "Get out." Soul said, his tone deadly. "Get out before I kick the shit out of you." Chris practically snarled and began backing away.

"Who the hell is this guy Maka?" he shouted to her as he headed towards the door. "Your new boyfriend? Don't be an idiot Maka, you're mine! We were made for each other! Watch your back bastard!" Soul took a step forward, his posture threatening; Chris scrambled out the door, slamming it behind him.

Relaxing, Soul turned to face Maka. Her head was down and he couldn't see her expression. The poor lighting hiding her face in shadow. He took a hesitant step towards her. "Are you all right?" he asked. Her head snapped up and he realized her eyes were a piercing green. He hadn't stood close enough to her to notice until now. Her eyes were narrowed like she was angry with him and he couldn't help but give her a confused look. He'd just saved her right? A heroic rescue, why would she be angry. _Crack. _He raised a hand to his stinging cheek in disbelief. She had hit him. "What the hell I-"

"You had no right getting involved!" she snapped. He felt himself flush with anger.

"What are you talking about!" his voice rising with his temper. "I just saved you!" Her jaw clenched.

"I didn't ask to be saved. I can take care of myself." She shoved past him.

"Are you serious?" confusion mingling with more disbelief colouring his tone. "He was gonna hit you." She froze with her back to him, hand on the door. That ever-present tension in her shoulders. The silence in the hall only interrupted by the buzzing sound of the flickering light. Her posture changed, melted into a weak sort of slump.

"You're right," she whispered. Her voice so soft that he barely caught what she said. "I'm sorry I hit you, it was wrong. The band is backstage. Please don't make judgement on them based on my behaviour, sometimes I-" she paused as though what she was saying was difficult for her, he noticed her hand tighten on the door knob. "I hold them back. You're really good and we'd love to have you." She turned the handle, the door opening a bit, laughter and muted voices slipping through the crack. "Please," she whispered. "Please don't tell the others that Chris was here." She didn't wait for his answers only set her shoulders in a more confident posture, she opened the door fully and stepped in, the chorus of voices greeting her were cut off as it swung shut.

Soul stood alone for a moment, blinking. Unable to wrap his head around what had just happened he ran a hand through his hair. A bizarre exchange and despite it all he couldn't erase the image of her performing from his mind.

Maka sat at the bar, her guitar case leaned up against her stool. She had wanted to flee the bar and go home immediately but they'd had to pack up their equipment. Not to mention there was the matter of settling whether or not Soul would be in the band. Blair leaned across the bar and put a drink in front of her. A Strongbow, her drink of choice. Blair smiled sympathetically and patted her hand. Maka wondered if she really look pathetic enough to warrant the gesture. She attempted to arrange her face into a more pleasant expression until; "You feel sick or something?" Liz asked as she set herself on the stool next to her. Maka immediately abandoned her attempt. She took a drink from her Strongbow, knowing she shouldn't, she had school in the morning and with how late it was she knew she would feel like crap tomorrow as it was. "I'm fine," she claimed untruthfully.

Her encounter with Chris had drained her. She had not expected him to show up but wasn't really surprised that he did. She didn't want the others to know, they would freak that he was still coming around. She'd convinced them he had stopped showing up where she was all the time awhile ago and didn't want to revisit them worrying for her. Giving pitying looks as they doled out advice. The worst part of the evening had been Soul stepping in. Her heart wrenched inside her. It wasn't that she didn't appreciate it, sure it had been sweet of him but he didn't even know her. He didn't know what he was getting involved in, didn't know what Chris was capable of.

She shivered and the hairs on her neck stood up. He was watching her again. Her eyes darted to the side, he was leaned up against the wall so casually it was as if he were a part of it. Hands stuffed in his pockets he turned away. Black Star was helping Tsubaki wrap up a particularly long cable and Patti was just finishing up packing up her drum set. Kid slipped in by Liz, wrapping his arms around her waist as Soul unhitched himself the wall.

Tsubaki handed Black Star her end of the cable as they finished wrapping it up. "Well?" Black Star asked, eyes on Soul. His gaze swept over them and Maka was sure he lingered on her for a moment longer than the others. "You're good," he nodded. "I'm in." They all erupted into excited chatter, Patti jumping up and down. Maka took a swig of her drink again. Patti stopped jumping suddenly.

"But wait," she said and they looked at her. "None of our songs have a part for piano," she pointed out.

"Maka can write it in, she wrote them originally after all." Tsubaki smiled at Maka who furrowed her brow.

"I don't know…"

"I'll help." Her eyes flicked to Soul who shrugged. "I've written stuff before and besides you were looking for new eyes right? If we can't work it into the existing we can write new stuff." Maka frowned. "I don't know…" she mumbled again like a broken record. Patti laughed and Liz shoved Maka playfully.

"Don't be silly, you can write and compose or whatever together." Maka didn't miss the 'Or whatever' Liz had thrown in or the sly smile that had flashed in her direction for a moment. "That way our sound won't do a complete 360, it'll still have Maka's flavor just with a dash of Soul." Patti cracked up and Liz couldn't help but smile. "Pun not intended. You have plenty of soul on your own Maka." Sighing heavily Maka rubbed her eyes and yawned. "All right, whatever," she said, too tired to argue. "Honestly though I really gotta skip outta here, its late." Tsubaki smiled.

"Don't worry about your stuff, we know you've got school, we'll take care of it. I'll call you tomorrow?" Maka smiled appreciatively and nodded, finishing off her drink she slipped off of her stool and left.

The door beside the bar that lead to the kitchen burst open. Spirit came prancing in with a silly grin on his face and a strawberry milkshake in hand. "Makaaaaaaa!" he called in a sing-songy voice. He froze when he didn't see her. The others were all staring at him in silence. "Where'd Maka go?" Tsubaki gave him a pitying smile.

"She's gone home…" His grin melted off his face and his lip trembled. He sunk to a crouch, his head down, the milkshake clutched in his hands.

"But I made her favourite. Oh my little Maka…how could you leave without telling me…" Blair moved out from behind the bar and crouched beside him. "Oh Boss?" she asked. He looked up at her with a watery, pathetic sort of look. "Can I have the milkshake?"

**XD Sooo that's the end of this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it and my lame attempts at some comedy. As you hopefully guess Chris is not a character of Soul Eater I made him up for this story since none of the regular characters fit for the situation. Nor did I really want to twist one up so much to fit the mold I was going for. I apologize if the formatting feels is awkward, I'm trying to get used to the publishing tool and document manager-ness :D  
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**More to come!  
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**Reviews are love! :3**

**SONG OUT!  
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	2. Sensible Heart

**Hello Hello! :3**

**I just wanted to say thank you! The reviews are greatly appreciated! Please enjoy this already completed second chapter! XD I had a lot of free time this weekend sooo yeah haha, unfortunately the updates won't always be this speedy but I will make sure to get something out once a week at the very least. SO! Without further adieu...  
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**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN SOUL EATER! Or 'SENSIBLE HEART' by CITY AND COLOUR, the song this chapters title is based on.  
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><p><em>Two: Sensible Heart<em>

Maka's eyes felt like they had been cemented together. She woke sluggishly, only the persistent droning of her alarm from across the room kept her from rolling over and going back to sleep. Rolling over she reached for the alarm futilely, knowing it was too far but trying anyways. This movement just involved her getting tangled in the sheets and slipping off the bed and onto the floor with a thump. She rubbed her eyes tired and untangled herself, heading for the shower.

Her small one bedroom apartment was quiet, the sun only just coming out, peering through the shades tentatively. She'd hardly slept at all and the lack of sleep left her stiff and uncomfortable. She took a little longer in the shower than usual, the warm water soothed her muscles but wasn't particularly helpful in waking her up. Yawning widely she stumbled out of the shower and dressed herself. A plaid skirt and a button up blouse with a black tie. She pulled her hair into her regular pig tails and padded to the kitchen barefoot to make breakfast.

Unable to stand the silence anymore she hit play on the stereo, sitting on the floor, with her toe as passed. Music filled the apartment, her regular wake up morning tunes and she swayed to the beat as put some bread in the toaster. As it did every morning the music filled her and she was soon dancing around as she made breakfast, tapping her foot as she ate, then dancing more as she packed her bag and slipped on her favorite pair of boots. The disc came to a stop just as she opened the door to leave as it usually did.

Ear buds stuffed in her ears she hummed under her breath as she walked. Her apartment wasn't far from her school, she could have taken the bus but she enjoyed her morning walks. The way to her school took her through one of the nicer neighborhoods. She rubbed one of her eyes as she stood at a crosswalk, waiting for the little flashing man to appear signalling it was okay for her to cross. In all honesty she could have crossed with how little traffic there was but she wasn't paying the best attention in her tired state and figured better safe than sorry. _Coffee…need Coffee…_ her sleepy mind hissed at her like an angry beast. There was a coffee shop right along the way to school, she'd given herself plenty of time before class so she decided to stop and accept her mind's hissing demand.

_Marie's Coffee Stop Shop. _A worn sign read. It was a small privately owned place and Maka's absolute favorite, she preferred it to the large chains any day. The bell tinkled over the door as she entered. This early in the morning it was mostly empty, one man in a suit with his laptop opened sat at a table tapping away, a mug of coffee steaming beside him. A small-framed blonde woman who'd been sweeping turned at the sound of the bell. Her pretty face broke into a wide smile at the sight of Maka. She was the owner of the coffee shop and as Maka was a regular they saw each other often. Marie's appearance always surprised most people, she wore an eye patch over her left eye. Maka had never asked her how her eye was injured but Marie joked about the patch, saying she liked standing out. The patch didn't matter though, she was a beautiful lady.

"Maka!" she greeted. Maka smiled back and tugged her headphones out of her ears.

"Morning!" Marie leaned the broom up against the wall and moved around the corner. Her frilly apron stained with coffee and flour from the fresh pastries she baked every morning.

"The usual?" Maka nodded and stifled a yawn. "Long night?" Marie asked, her one brown eye looking at her in concern. Maka nodded as Marie handed her one of her favorite fancy little pastries she baked while she brewed the coffee for her. "Thanks," she said as she took the pastry, "and yes to the long night. I hardly slept, we had a gig last night." Marie frowned.

"You've really got to take better care of yourself," she chided gently. "If you push yourself too hard you'll break." An alarm went off in the back room, Marie's gaze darted to the doorway and back to Maka helplessly. "I'm so sorry, I've really got to take those out of the oven or they'll burn." Maka smiled and nodded,

"Its okay, I can wait, go." Marie gave her a grateful look and dashed into the backroom.

"I thought it was you I spotted." A voice behind her startled Maka and she whipped around, dropping her pastry in surprise. Soul was standing with a sideways sort of smirk on his face. His unnerving gaze on her. He wore a leather jacket and as always had his hands stuffed in his pockets. Maka clutched her racing heart and glared at him. His gaze flicked away from her for only a moment to the pastry on the floor. "What a waste, too bad, it looked pretty good too." Maka turned her back on him and to pick the pastry mess.

"You shouldn't sneak up on people like that," she snapped as she stood.

"I didn't sneak," he retorted. "I walked right in plainly for all to see. Not to mention the bell over the door should have given me away anyways. You need to pay better attention." She shook her head in exasperation. "What are you doing here anyways?" she asked, turning back to face him. He shrugged and gave her the crooked smile from before.

"Just in the neighborhood. Thought I spotted you coming in here so I figured I'd drop in and see." She raised an eyebrow at him as Marie returned from the back room with a plate of fresh pastries. Her eye widened in surprise.

"Oh, Maka, who's this?" She asked. Maka bit back a sigh.

"This is Soul, he's Death City Kid's newest addition." Marie looked delighted.

"You didn't tell me you'd found a new member!" Maka shrugged.

"He's _very _new."

"Well any friend of Maka's is a friend of mine." She held out the plate she'd brought out to him. "Go on take one, they're fresh!" It was Soul's turn to look delighted, he scooped a pastry off the plate and Maka took one too, her half eaten one discarded after being dropped on the floor.

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><p>Marie handed Maka her coffee in a to go cup and offered Soul one as well but he declined. After forcing some money on Marie for the drink she bid her goodbye and left the shop. Much to her annoyance, Soul followed.<p>

"So, what are you doing out and about so early?" he asked, licking powdered sugar from his fingers. She sipped her coffee and had a moment where she felt she could have burst into song about it.

"I have school." He looked horrified for a moment.

"How old are you?" She sighed and swallowed another mouthful of coffee.

"College," she told him simply. His horrified expression was wiped away with one of relief. "What's it matter to you anyway?" They continued down the sidewalk.

"Well I was just going to be shocked is all. I mean it was pretty damn late last night for a high school student to be out on a school night, not to mention we were in a bar and…" he trailed off and she knew he was thinking about their encounter in the empty hallway. She brushed her aggravation away to glance at him over her shoulder. "Do you plan on following me to school or something?" He grinned toothily at her.

"Actually I was going to do the chivalrous thing and offer you a ride."

"In your imaginary car?" She was surprised as he barked out a laugh at her sarcasm. She paused when she realized he had stopped. Turning, she saw he was standing next to a massive motorbike a helmet under his arm. "No, on my very real bike." She furrowed her brow.

"No thank you, I can walk." She turned and started down the sidewalk without another word. She heard the bike kick into gear behind her. She hoped he was leaving. Going in another direction.

No such luck.

The bike pulled up next to her slowly, he egged it along at a snails pace to continue alongside her. He kept having to stop it and give it a short burst to keep alongside her, the engine purring as he went. "Are you surrree you don't want a ride?" She frowned, sucking back more of her coffee.

"I'm surrree," she mimicked. He continued alongside her.

"Think how cool you'd look to all the other little college goers. Arriving on my bike, with me." She scoffed at his vanity. "I could care less about 'looking cool'," she sniped.

"Says the lead signer in the band," he laughed. She rolled her eyes. They walked a moment longer and she felt an itching annoyance that he was still following her, she froze and he brought the bike to a full stop beside her with a quizzical expression.

"Honestly Soul, what is you want from me?" the seriousness in her tone apparent. His own grinning face slipped into a serious expression as well. His unusual red eyes stared her down.

"We're in a band together now. We might as well get along. I feel like we got off on the wrong foot." She stared at him hard for a moment, completely unsure what to make of this boy, unable to tell if he was sincere. He seemed sincere but she was reluctant to trust him. "You can trust me you know." She hesitated, her phone vibrated in her pocket, pulling it out she caught a glimpse of the time before she read the text, her mouth went dry. She had spent too much time dawdling along, now she was on the verge of being late for class. She ignored the text for now and bit her lip. "What is it?" he asked. She sighed heavily.

"I…I'm gonna be late," she mumbled. _And its all your fault, _she added to herself. He smiled knowingly.

"No you're not."

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><p>She wrapped her arms around his waist as the bike ripped down the street. She had to bite back a cry of surprise as the wind whipped her hair and jacket back; the bike taking a corner at a ridiculous speed. They reached the school in record time though, Maka had asked him to stop a little ways away so nobody would see her arrive on the back of his bike. She yelped as he continued past the agreed upon point for drop off, she could feel his shoulders shake with laughter; the wind roaring past her ears stealing the sound.<p>

To her displeasure he pulled all the way up to the school steps. A crowd of students scattering as he drove _through_ the courtyard. He skidded to a stop and horrified Maka leaping off the bike as if it were on fire. She looked at him with her lips parted in disbelief. He removed his helmet, white hair falling around his face. He'd tried to offer her it since he'd only had the one with him but she'd refused vehemently.

"I told you to drop me off back there! You drove up to the _steps._ I'm pretty sure driving a motorbike through the courtyard is breaking about a thousand different school rules!" her voice was steadily rising higher as she spoke.

"Chill Maka, I got you here on time didn't I?" She threw her hands up in the air.

"Oh whatever. I'll pay you back for gas next time I see you." She turned and began her way up the steps grumbling about reckless behavior.

"Maka!" She paused and turned. "You don't have to pay me back." She shook her head in irritation and left him at the bottom of the stairs clutching his helmet and watching her go.

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><p>Soul sighed heavily, putting his helmet back on. Such a strange girl. He climbed onto his bike and was about the rev the engine when a figure stepped in front of the bike. Alarmed, Soul turned and came to a stop. Tearing off his helmet he glared at them, "Are you crazy!" he shouted.<p>

Chris was standing in front of the bike, his arms folded across his chest. A familiar murderous glare on his face. "What are you doing here?" he snarled. "Did I just see you drop Maka off?" Soul frowned and folded his arms in a similar fashion. "So what if you did, pretty sure its none of your business." Chris' face held a dangerous expression as he leaned forward.

"Listen buddy, Maka is my girlfriend. We're meant to be. So back off." Soul couldn't help but laugh.

"Clearly you haven't realized this but Maka doesn't belong to anyone but Maka. All I did was give her a ride to school. I ran into her and she was late. I was just helping out a band mate." Chris' eyes narrowed.

"You're in the band with her?" Soul nodded.

"I don't even think she considers me a friend so you're freaking out over nothing. Not that it matters, pretty sure she doesn't want you around either." Chris huffed.

"Maka _always _wants me around." Soul laughed sharply.

"Didn't look like that yesterday." Chris looked outraged and Soul just gave him an unimpressed look. "Listen, much as I'd love to stay in chat with some abusive dirt bag I've gotta go." He started up his bike and pulled away leaving Chris standing alone looking like he had a bad taste in his mouth.

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><p>"And so, read chapters five through eight quietly, I have to step out for a moment." Professor Stein exited the room. The minute the door closed behind him Maka whipped out her phone. She'd forgotten to check her text message before entering the classroom and Professor Stein had strict rules about phones in class. She flipped it open.<p>

**Tsubaki: Hey! How r u feeling?**

_**Maka: Okay. So so so tired though. **_Maka didn't like text slang. She always spelled things out fully. Her friends poked fun but she didn't care. She could text as fast as any of them _and_ keep proper spelling and punctuation. She didn't have to wait long for an answer, the phone buzzed seconds after her text had been sent.

**Tsubaki: ****:( Sorry for every1 being out so l8. We should really try to get u home sooner…will u b alright 4 practice 2nite?**

_**Maka: Yeah, I should be fine. Black Star's house?**_

**Tsubaki: Yep as usual. Did u have a good morning? **She chewed her lip, contemplating if she should mention Soul to Tsubaki. Her fingers flew across the keys.

_**Maka: Mostly normal, but I ran into Soul. **_It took a little longer for her to respond this time. Maka wondered about it, clearly Tsubaki was weighing her response carefully.

**Tsubaki: O, crazy, where, wat happened?**

_**Maka: I was getting coffee at Marie's. Nothing happened, he just gave me a ride to school. **_

**Tsubaki: He seems nice. Have u xchanged s? **She frowned.

_**Maka: No…why?**_

**Tsubaki: Well u guys r supposed to rite 2gether? How will u do that if u don't hang out sumtime? **Maka sighed heavily.

_**Maka: I guess…I'll see him tonight for practice. I'll deal with it then. I'll call you after class.**_

**Tsubaki: Kk!**

Maka closed her phone and tucked it back into her pocket. Bending over the textbook she started on the chapters the Professor had assigned.

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><p>Liz hopped off the counter in Black Star's spacious kitchen.<p>

"Well I'm gonna go pick up Maka," she told them. Everyone had already gathered at Black Star's for band practice. The only person they were missing was Maka. They'd gravitated towards the kitchen as Black Star had ordered pizza and laid in on the kitchen counter. Kid tossed his keys to Liz who caught them and kissed him on the cheek before leaving.

They went to Black Star's house for practice since his house was the largest. He was the heir to the Star family's fortune. His mother and father had passed away when he was very young and he'd inherited everything they'd had. He didn't have to do anything if didn't want to with the amount of money he had but he liked managing the girls band. He'd dedicated a room for their practice's and it had immediately become their meeting place.

Kid, though his family had money, liked to be independent from his father. So he lived in his own trendy apartment downtown, not big enough for the band to practice in.

Black Star leaned in next to Soul, throwing his arm over his shoulder. "Wanna see where the magic happens?" Soul polished off his fourth slice of pizza with a nod.

"Sure, lead the way." He glanced at the others as Black Star led him from the room. Patti and Tsubaki were trying to convince Kid not to eat eight pieces of pizza.

"Its not fair to Maka, there won't be any left if you eat eight…" Tsubaki told him softly. Kid scrambled for the box but Patti snatched it up and danced out of his reach before he could get. "But four isn't symmetrical!" he practically sobbed. Patti giggled.

"Relax Kid! You're not gonna die if you don't get eight pieces." Kid shuddered and covered his head with his hands, this was the last thing Soul caught a glimpse of though.

He followed Black Star down a spacious hallway, hardwood floors and clean whitewashed walls. Posters of bands hung in frames as if they were the most precious paintings. Black Star reached the end of the hall and pulled on a string hanging from the ceiling. A set of stairs collapsed down from the ceiling and Black Star led up into the attic.

It was a huge space. Assorted oriental rugs covered the floor in layers, cables snaked their way around and throughout the room, taped down with multicolored duct tape. A cushy looking green and blue paisley couch was on an angle facing where the instruments had been set up, a low mahogany coffee table set in front of it and a chair that matched the couch set up facing the band's space too. The only windows were two massive, round skylights set in the peaked roof; one on either side. A circle of sunlight fell directly where the band would play. Speakers and expensive looking sound equipment were set up all around the room. Boxes of lighting equipment, fog machines, extra cables, microphone's and other assorted items were stacked along the walls.

What drew Soul's attention most though was the beautiful grand piano set up in the natural spotlight the skylight was creating. He sucked in a breath at the sight of it, it gleamed and he realized he'd been walking towards it once he was close enough to touch it. He ran his hands along the case appreciatively.

Black Star stood further back grinning, his scratched his head. "She's a beauty eh?" Soul glanced at him.

"She is _gorgeous_," Soul emphasized, practically drooling.

"I had her brought in this morning." Soul's eyebrows shot up, his red eyes widened.

"Please tell me you didn't buy this for me?" Black Star laughed.

"Don't kid yourself, its mine, you just get to use it. Actually you'll be the only one using it but it doesn't matter its still mine." Soul flashed him a grin and Black Star flopped onto the couch, putting his feet up.

"Remember in high school, we convinced you to play in that talent show." Soul smiled and scratched his head.

"Yeah."

"Play the song you played then would you?" Soul nodded and sat down at the piano, putting his fingers to the keys. It was perfectly tuned and Soul could have melted at the feel of it. After a few minutes of playing around he stopped. Something was nagging him. His mind itched with the thought. Unsure if he should talk to Black Star about this of all people.

"Black Star?" he started. His friend opened his eyes, he'd had his hands behind his head quietly listening to Soul play. "If I ask you something will you promise not to tell anyone?" Black Star gave him a look.

"Are you gonna go all girly on me and start sharing stupid secrets?" Soul shook his head with a short laugh and Black Star leaned back again and closed his eyes. "Then ask away."

"Do you know a Chris?" Black Star opened one eye, his brow furrowed.

"Yeah but he's a real dick why?"

"Just…what do you know about him?" Black Star sat up to look at his friend.

"The Chris I know is Maka's ex-boyfriend. Her Dad's a real player and she always had trouble trusting guys because of it. He cheated on her Mom and they divorced because of it. Took me forever to get her to consider me a friend, Kid only just managed to get into her good books. This guy Chris came around to a few shows and took a liking to her. He was real persistent with her from the start, from what the girls say he was real sweet in the beginning. Personally I always got a bad vibe from him." Black Star stretched a little as he continued. "He went slow but steady and managed to get through to her. They started dating and I guess after about a week it changed. He got all over protective. Cussed me and Kid out anytime we came near her or talked to her, he was real threatening to any guys that hit on her. Not that he needed to be, much as she drives me crazy Maka's a tough chick and can generally take care of herself. He started controlling her, acted like a real ass one minute and then all sorry and apologizing the next." Soul frowned as he listened.

"Well one day she comes to practice with a black eye. Says she did it to herself, ran into something or some lame excuse like that. The girls freaked and we managed to get the truth out of Maka. Chris had hit her, he'd been hitting her for awhile. She'd tried to break up with him on multiple occasions but he never took the hint, always came back, showed up everywhere she went. Damn girl is too proud to ask for help with anything," Black Star had a protective gleam in his eye as he spoke despite his nonchalant tone. "Anyway, I guess Maka went out with some guy on a few dates so Chris would get the hint and then one day she gets a call, the guy she'd gone out with was in the hospital. Chris had gone berserk on him and beat the shit out of him. The dude in the hospital wouldn't press charges though he was so scared, he dumped Maka real quick. This was months ago though." He cracked his knuckles. "Me and Kid had some words with Chris and he stopped coming around thankfully."

Soul tapped one of the keys absently as he mulled over the story Black Star had told him. The clear tone of high c ringing out over and over as he tapped the key. _Except Chris didn't stop coming around apparently._ Soul thought to himself. _And Maka is too proud to tell them. _He was torn, Maka had asked him not to tell anyone but clearly she was not handling the situation.

"Will you stop with the piano please!" Black Star snapped, pulling Soul from his thoughts. He stopped tapping the key with a sheepish expression. Black Star gave him a curious look. "What're you asking about Chris for anyway?" He looked concerned for a moment. "You didn't spot Maka's ex around or something did you?" Soul panicked mentally still torn if he should tell the others about the scene in the hallway. He breathed for a moment and made a split second decision.

"Oh, uh no, just curious. The Chris I was thinking of isn't the same guy I'm sure." Black Star relaxed.

"Oh okay," he said leaning back again. Soul felt a little sick, unsure why he lied. It wasn't like he really owed Maka anything and it would probably be better if he told the others. He decided he had done it since he had been torn and unsure what to do. He would talk to Maka about it when he got a chance and if things didn't go well he would tell the others. Yes, that's what he would do.

Practice went well, Liz arrived with Maka and the band got to work. They played some of their existing songs and Soul sat at the piano, writing in parts for it as they played. Occasionally they would pause and make suggestions or if they felt it wasn't working start over. After a few songs Maka asked they play a new song she had written awhile ago. They'd practiced it before a few times but hadn't had a chance to play it for an audience yet. She had felt it was lacking something for awhile, she asked Soul sit back and listen to the song and give his honest opinion as to what they should do for it.

Soul moved to sit on the couch with Kid and Black Star and the girls picked up their instruments. He felt oddly nervous but that didn't make any sense. He'd watched them play before and he'd just been playing along with them. He was surprised when Maka picked up an acoustic guitar, she plugged it in and began strumming on it, her voice sighing softly, musically, into the mic as she started singing. Her eyes were closed as she played; singing earnestly. Soul felt a small shiver climb up his spine and hoped Kid who sat beside him didn't notice his weak, uncool moment. It was a hopeful song, about strength and dreams; different from the others she'd written that usually sounded darker to him. She held the next note she sang, the others joining in with their instruments in a melodious crash. Goosebumps rose on Soul's arm and Maka focused on singing as the others played for awhile, Tsubaki's own singing echoing Maka's as they played. As the song came to a close each girl's instrument drifted out until only Maka was playing again, ending out the song more softly with her acoustic.

Her voice faded out with the last chord from her guitar smoothly. She swallowed and removed the guitar strap from her shoulders, putting it down gently.

"Well?" she asked expectantly. The softer Maka he'd just seen gone and replaced with the more tense one he was steadily becoming more accustomed too. Soul sat back and scratched his chin, trying to put together what he wanted to say.

"Its very good," he started. The others started going on about how they had known it from the beginning and that Maka was too much of a perfectionist, that the song had been ready for an audience ages ago. "No wait, I agree with Maka…as beautiful as the song is, something is…off." Maka nodded, accepting this. "I think the problem is you don't believe what you're singing." Her green eyes widened at this but she didn't speak. "I'm not trying to be hurtful I'm just being honest." He gave her a firm look, she met his gaze steadily. "Until you believe what you're singing the song won't be complete." She nodded, not appearing to take any offense. She moved past it quickly not waiting to dwell on what he said.

"Do you think you could work some piano into the song? Would it work?" He shrugged.

"I can try sure."

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><p>Black Star handed Soul a pair of keys. "Everyone has a set," he told him. "You're all free to come and go as you please, use this space as often as you like." Soul nodded, taking the key and slipping his hands into his pockets. The band lounged about for awhile, chatting and joking. Black Star got up to take a call a few times, he'd been securing a few shows for them throughout the next week. He let them know they had to be ready with enough songs where Soul played with them by Thursday night.<p>

Maka surprised Soul and sat next to him on the couch. "So," she said awkwardly. "I should probably get your number so we can get together." Soul smiled cockily.

"Whoa, Maka, forward aren't you?" his crimson eyes twinkled. She made a noise of annoyance and held out her hand, he pulled out his phone and opened it to the address book placing it on her palm. He watched her punch in the number, feeling a spark of amusement at her concentrated expression. She handed back his phone and he saved the number, taking her phone then and they repeated the process.

"Well," she said formally. "I suppose I'll text you to pick a date-" she froze, looking horrified for a moment. "Er and when I say date I mean a time during the week when we will get together for-um-work related-uh-stuff," she finished lamely and he couldn't help but give her a sharp looking grin. She blushed a little and he couldn't help but admire the way the flush of pink crept across her cheeks. Maka stood abruptly. "Um I've gotta go, uh, homework you know." She turned and bid goodbye to the rest of the band.

Soul leaned his head back and sighed. His stomach felt strange. The damn girl was so set on keeping her distance. Not that he could blame her. He wondered if it would be too soon to text her and pick a date to get together.

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><p>Maka shook as she put the key in the lock to her apartment door. She was mad at herself. He was getting inside her head and she didn't like it, she had been so careful, worked so hard to get to the safe point she was at. The way he looked at her just…unnerved her. The boy with the red eyes and white hair. She would not admit to herself she found him attractive. After her second attempt she unlocked the door and stepped in, closing it behind her softly. She leaned against the door for a moment and felt behind her the deadbolt, sliding it closed.<p>

She went through her usual homecoming ritual, hanging up her coat and laying her book bag near the small kitchen table, checking her answering machine. She didn't often have messages on it since most people just called her cell phone. Sometimes she wondered why she had a home phone at all. The only person who called her on it was her Dad whom she preferred to ignore anyway. The light on it that signified she had a message was flashing, she hit play and started making dinner as she listened.

"_Hey baby." _She dropped the colander she'd been holding on the floor with a clatter, gripping the counter to stop herself from sinking to the floor. "_Its too bad you're not home. I really wanted to talk." _His voice was coming out of her answering machine, Chris' voice. She'd changed her number ages ago so he couldn't call her anymore. Somehow he'd found it. "_I miss you. We should really get together soon. I love you baby, remember that. I'll see you soon. Maybe after your classes are done tomorrow? I hope your dreams are sweet." The machine beeped signifying the end of the message._

She shuddered, sinking to the floor, her fingertips still gripping the counter. Her stomach felt sick, like someone had taken their hand and twisted her stomach into a knot with it in her gut. She turned, sitting on the floor and hugging her knees to her chest. She stared hard at the light hanging from the ceiling to stop herself from crying. She'd thought he was done with her, thought he would leave her alone now. Clearly she had been wrong. Wiping her eyes she tried to harden her heart, cursing her moment of weakness. She was strong like her mother, she had herself to rely on as always.

**End of Chapter Two! Hope you enjoyed it! As always, reviews are love!**

**Song OUT! :D  
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	3. Trouble Sleeping

**Hello! Thank you to those who have reviewed and been following this, it is greatly appreciated! :3**

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN SOUL EATER. Nor do I own the song, 'Trouble Sleeping' by Corinne Bailey Rae. (The inspiration for this chapters title)**

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><p><em>Three: Trouble Sleeping<br>_

"Miss Albarn." A firm voice started Maka awake, her chin slipping out from under her hand. Her eyes flew wide and she looked around in confusion, her head clearing of its sleepy fog. She paled as she realized who's voice had woken her.

Professor Stein stood in front of her desk with a stern expression, though it held a hint of…amusement? Maka's mouth opened and closed a few times like a fish out of water. She didn't know what to say, she had no excuse for sleeping during his lecture. As she became more awake her surroundings became more apparent. The room was empty, only her a Professor Stein remained.

"I-I-" she started with a stutter only to give up, she put her head down in shame. "I'm sorry." The Professor adjusted his glasses.

"I don't know what's wrong Miss Albarn but normally you're one of my best students." He leaned forward. "Because of that fact, I'll make an exception for you and not penalize you for your behaviour. However," he looked down at her with a concerned expression. "I am advising you go home for the rest of the day. It's only lunchtime now but clearly you need some rest. You have to be careful not to spread yourself too thin." His warning echoed Marie's in the coffee shop the previous day. She stifled a yawn.

"But I still have more classes-" she started. He held up a hand to silence her.

"I'll talk to your other teachers. Go," his expression was intimidating. She just nodded, scooping her books off the desk and into her arms. He turned and walked back to his desk, mumbling something to himself she couldn't hear. She tucked her booked into her bag and threw it over her shoulder as she left the room.

She pushed her hair out of her face as she slipped into the quiet hallway, she'd left her hair down today. She hadn't slept well at all and as a result after having a shower she'd dozed on the couch until it was time to leave; skipping breakfast and most other things she did in the morning, like putting up her hair.

Her pocket buzzed and she pulled out her phone, catching a glimpse of her tired reflection in the screen before she answered. She winced as she hit answer.

"Hello?" she answered, biting back a yawn.

"_You answered, I thought you were in class_," a rough voice crackled into her ear. She made an annoyed face as she pulled the other strap to her backpack on, blinking tiredly.

"If you didn't think I would answer why did you call?" Silence for a moment. _Wait._ she thought. _Who am I even talking to? _She pulled the phone away from her ear for a moment, glancing at the name on the call display. **'**Sexy Soul Eater Evans**'. **She frowned, it had clearly been a mistake to let him put his own number in the phone, a huge mistake.

"_I was going to text you but I changed my mind_."

"What do you want?" she asked a little impatiently.

"_My my, someone's touchy today. What are you doing since you're clearly not in class? Hooky…?" _

"For your information, its lunch time. I don't do hooky."

"_Boooo-ring."_ His taunting tone aggravated her to the point where her eye twitched.

"I was going to go home for the rest of the day though."

"_I thought you didn't play hooky?" _She made a noise of disgust and his throaty chuckle followed.

"If you must know my teacher told me to go home."

"_What for?"_ She detected a hint of concern in his voice and had a sudden burning need to taunt him about it. Alarmed, she pushed the feeling away.

"None of your business. What did you call me for anyway, besides to waste all my minutes with this useless conversation?"

"_You're no fun. I was going to ask you if you wanted to get together and work on some of the songs?" _She bit her lip, her mind trailing back to Chris' message. He'd see her after school maybe he'd said. It was part of why she hadn't slept well. The maybe haunted her, maybe he'd be there, maybe he wouldn't. Maybe he'd show up somewhere else she frequented. She panicked at the thought of him being around as she went to meet Soul. _"Maka?" _Damn, she hadn't said anything for too long.

"I don't know." She mumbled. She'd stopped walking and was huddled near one of the empty classrooms.

"_You can't blow me off Maka we have to do this. The band is counting on us, we've got shows coming up." _She felt a flash of irritation as his sudden desire to impress the band.

"You think I don't know that?" she snapped.

"_Well_, _you don't have a choice. I'm gonna come pick you up."_ Pictures of Chris spotting Soul picking her up flew threw her mind.

"No!" she almost shouted.

"_Too late." _There was a click as he disconnected the call. Cursing she closed the phone and tucked it into her pocket. What was wrong with him?

She hurried along the hallway, panicking mentally, praying Chris wasn't hanging around outside somewhere. Picking up the pace she sped walked towards to the doors hoping she could make it out and down the street a bit before Soul came ripping through the courtyard again. She had no luck, the fastest route through the massive building was blocked off for renovations, she had to go all the way around. Heaving a sigh she rushed along, her shoes squeaking as she went.

The sunlight hit her blindingly as she shoved open the doors. She threw her hand up to sheild her eyes and give them a moment to adjust. She paled immediately when they did, thoughts of Chris slipping from her mind.

Since it was lunch time and the day happened to be so gorgeous, multitudes of students were frolicking outside around the building. At the bottom of the steps, the same place he'd dropped her off yesterday, was Soul. Seated on the bike he was chatting to a group of girls who'd gathered around the bike and were giggling and flirting with him. Maka clenched her fist, hastily loosening it when she realized what she was doing. He glanced at her and she narrowed her eyes at him, he grinned sharply in response and she let out a breath to calm herself as she started down the steps.

"Maka!" He greeted, raising a hand in her direction.

"Couldn't you have waited in the parking lot like a normal person?" she hissed. The group of girls looked at her sceptically, clearly wondering why she was talking to the good-looking bad boy with the motorbike in such a way. He shrugged coolly and she swore she heard one of the girls stifle a squeal. _Pathetic._

"I figured it would be best to wait somewhere familiar? How would you find me otherwise?"

"You have my number, you called me!" she replied incredulously. He shrugged again and reached behind him, lifting a second helmet off the back of the bike, his had been in his lap as he spoke to her.

"I brought a second one this time so you don't die if we crash." Maka twitched.

"How…thoughtful." He nodded like it was nothing and Maka felt angry eyes on her.

"So, lets get outta here. I was thinking we could get some lunch-" Maka wasn't really listening anymore.

Nervously, her gaze slid to the girls who were now glaring quite pointedly at her. She was imagining how their conversation sounded. He has her number, brought her a helmet _this _time, he was thinking they could get some _lunch. _Okay, maybe these things weren't that suggestive but she couldn't shake the feeling that her life had suddenly been placed in mortal danger. She felt like she was standing between a pack of lionesses and their last meal. Soul being the meal of course. "Maka?" a rough looking hand with slender pianist fingers waved in front of her face. "Hello, earth to Maka, are you in there?" Her gaze snapped back to him.

"Oh, uh, ehehe…" she nodded. "Sorry…how did you get here so fast? I only talked to you like ten minutes ago." He handed her the helmet he'd brought and she climbed onto the back.

"Isn't it obvious?" she frowned and put the helmet on as he did the same. Tinted visor up, he glanced back at her and smiled. "I'm stalking you." He reached behind him and pushed her visor down before she could retort. She gave him an outraged look, knowing he could see it but feeling his laughter as he put his own down and kicked the bike into gear. It lurched forward and she squeaked unintentionally, her arms circled his waist and her fingers laced together tightly to avoid being thrown off by the abrupt movement. The bike swivelled, kicking up gravel. The lionesses squealed and scrambled away as Soul pulled out of the courtyard with little concern for anyone's safety.

Maka muttered grumpily to herself about recklessness as he barely avoided hitting several students before pulling out onto the road.

* * *

><p>"Sushi?" Maka frowned and made a face at where Soul had brought them. Soul looked surprised.<p>

"You don't like sushi?" he exclaimed. She grimaced.

"Raw fish? Blech," she wrinkled her nose and stuck out her tongue to emphasise. Soul sighed an steered her into the restaurant anyway.

"Well you're in luck, they make a delicious teriyaki steak too."

The restaurant was dimly lit, Maka glanced longingly through the window at the restaurant with the outdoor patio across the street. The sun was beaming down on the brightly coloured awnings and umbrella's pleasantly. Soul caught her elbow, dragging her along as he followed the hostess who was showing them to their seats, wobbling forward on her heels.

The booth was wooden with useless plastic covered cushions that stuck to her thighs unpleasantly. Fed up with trying to keep her skirt between the cushion and the back of her legs she just shoved it aside and sat on the wooden bench. Soul didn't appear bothered by it and was contentedly ticking off things he wanted on the order sheet with a little pencil. She glared at him, not pleased with his choice. If he was going to force her to go to lunch with him the least he could have done was agree to go somewhere she liked too.

"If you're not careful your face will stick that way," he said with a disinterested tone, his eyes never leaving his little order sheet. She huffed and looked down at the little laminated menu. It was beyond her why he liked this place, not just because it was a sushi place either, there were so many other sushi places around town that were much nicer. Annoyed, she stood and went to the washroom.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket as she finished washing her hands, she pulled it out.

"Hello?"

"_Hey!" _She recognized Tsubaki's voice.

"What's up?" she turned and leaned against the counter as she spoke, stifling a yawn.

"_Remember when I said we'd go shopping together?"_

"Umm, yeah."

"_Please don't be mad but I'm going with Black Star this afternoon."_

"Why? It seems odd he'd want to go shopping."

"_I kind of convinced him…"_ she trailed off. Maka sighed, she'd never understand what Tsubaki saw in their spiky headed manager. But him going shopping with her was progress; he rarely paid so much attention to anyone but himself and she wouldn't deny her friend of an afternoon with the object of her desires. Black Star was clueless and had yet to notice Tsubaki's affections, perhaps she was finally getting through his thick skull amazingly enough.

"Go for it," Maka encouraged. "We can go another time." Tsubaki made a soft, subdued version of a girly squeal and Maka couldn't help but smile.

* * *

><p>By the time she'd returned to the table the waitress had already come and gone with their drinks. It appeared she'd picked up Soul's order sheet as well. Soul had ordered himself a bubble tea and for her, to her surprise, a strawberry milkshake. She furrowed her brow.<p>

"Sorry, I got a call from Tsubaki." She apologized for making him wait. He nodded, just watching her as he usually did. Quietly, unnervingly. She couldn't even pinpoint what was so unnerving about it. Perhaps it was how calm he was, his eyes appeared sort of blank upon first glance but when she really looked he stared back for a moment unabashed before turning away as if it were nothing. The expression before he turned away always so…plain, no that wasn't the right word, intense maybe? It was as if she were transparent.

She took a sip of her milkshake and was delighted that it wasn't half bad. She plucked the strawberry off the rim of the cup and took a bite, holding it delicately between two fingers.

"How'd you know?" she wondered aloud. He smirked.

"After you left from the gig on Sunday your Dad came out with a strawberry milkshake for you. I just assumed a father knows his daughter best so I figured it was a safe bet to order and more creative than water."

"Oh, Papa," she mumbled. Feeling an annoying pang of guilt at missing her Papa trying to bring her a milkshake, she would never admit that to anyone of course. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it." He leaned forward, lacing his fingers together, his elbows on the table as he did. "Are you and your Dad close?" She gave him a horrified look.

"Not at all. He's a lecherous, disloyal, creep." He cocked his head in amusement.

"And yet you call him 'Papa'. Not Spirit or even just 'Father'." She narrowed her eyes, choosing not to rise to his challenge otherwise.

"What about your Mom?" She lit up at the slight change of subject.

"My Mom's amazing. Strong, self reliant, smart, responsible, loyal." She took another sip of her shake. "I admire her more than anyone. I just wish she was around more is all but I understand why she isn't."

"Are they not together?"

"My Mom divorced him because of all his cheating."

"Cheating is definitely not cool."

It was odd, talking to Soul, the conversation came so easy and even the silences she would have thought she should find awkward with someone she met three days ago, were strangely comfortable. He'd ordered for her too apparently as the waitress brought the order. The table was soon piled with assorted sushi and sashimi and other things Maka couldn't even name all for Soul apparently. They placed a plate of teriyaki steak in front of her with a bowl of miso and sticky while rice. She nibbled tentatively at the first bite of her food and was pleasantly surprised, it was really good.

It was alarming how much Soul ate though, stacks of empty plates around the table as he finished. He titled his head back, opening his mouth and dropping in the last piece of salmon, he chewed a moment and she watched his throat bob as he swallowed. He titled his head down and made a small satisfied sound as he wiped his mouth.

"Delicious. What a meal." He stretched and patted his stomach.

The waitress cleared the table and put down the check, a pair of unappetizing looking mints left behind with it. Soul scooped one up and popped it in his mouth, Maka ignored the one meant for her and yawned, chin resting in her palm.

"How come you're so tired, practice ended pretty early yesterday." She nodded.

"I know, I have other things that take up time too you know," she blinked sleepily, her full stomach trying to betray and send her off to sleep. "School and-" she didn't continue, not sure what else there was. He grinned but didn't comment. Irritated she sat up, trying to force her treacherous eyes to stay open, she reached for the check.

His hand covered hers and she froze in alarm. Staring at it on the table for a moment, his hand on top of hers, completely covering it. She knew it was only seconds as he lifted her hand off of the little piece of paper and picked it up himself but it felt like hours. The chill of the room brushed over the back of her hand again as his warmth moved away. He didn't appear concerned with what had happened as he leaned back observing the bill.

"I'll get it," he said, using that same disinterested tone from earlier, not looking at her, "I forced this lunch on you anyway, it's the least I can do." Dazed still she tried to focus on his words.

"What?" His eyebrows rose.

"I said I'll get it." Realizing what he was saying she shook herself. Her exhaustion really was starting to get the better of her.

"Oh no, I can pay for myself-" she started digging through her bag for money but was too slow. The waitress, to Maka's dismay was walking by just as he dropped his credit card onto the table. The woman snatched it up too quickly and with an air of defeat Maka closed her bag. She gave the table a hard look.

"I owe you gas money and for lunch now…" she said stubbornly. He waved her mutterings away.

"You don't owe me anything." The waitress returned with his card, he signed the receipt with a flourish and the two of them departed. Maka's rear end feeling very maltreated from the uncomfortable seat.

* * *

><p>The day was just a gorgeous as it had been when they went inside as they stepped back onto the street. A girl giggled and gave Soul a flirty wave as she passed them with her friend. Maka was unable to avoid rolling her eyes.<p>

"Where to?" he asked.

"How do you deal with that?" the words slipped out before she could stop them. He glanced over his shoulder at her.

"Deal with what?" He looked genuinely confused. The corner of her lip twitched, unable to understand how he didn't know what she was talking about.

"Since we met up earlier this afternoon six girls have come onto you." His eyebrow rose.

"You were counting?" he said with devilish grin. Her eyes widened and as she flushed her face set itself into an expression of denial.

"Of course not!" She spluttered. "Why on earth would I do that idiot? It was a rough estimate…" His grin was irrepressible but he shrugged deciding not to press her further.

"Okay, whatever." Maka frowned to herself. Why _did _she know how many girls had come onto Soul. It was a perplexing issue. She figured she must have subconsciously been keeping track. This was even more disturbing though as that meant on some deep level of her mind she did in fact care that six girls had come onto him and therefore…she had some sort of repressed attraction? She shook her head of the thought, she was over analyzing, as she always did; that was it of course.

* * *

><p>They decided to go to Black Stars place since all the equipment and instruments would make the whole process easier. Maka unlocked the door with her key and ushered Soul into the wide entryway.<p>

"Black Star?" she called out as she slipped off her shoes at the door and padded into the hall in her sock feet. "Hello? Anyone home?" only silence answered her. She peered back at Soul over her shoulder, he stood a little ways behind her in his usual pose, hands in his pockets. She suddenly felt nervous. But that was nonsense. She'd been alone with Soul all afternoon. _Alone in public,_ a spiteful little voice in her head chimed in, _Not alone in an empty house. _Her stomach lurched.

"Maybe we should-"

"Well lets go get started," Soul interrupted Maka's feeble beginning of an excuse to leave as he swept past her. She followed him down the hall with her eyes downcast, watching her feet walk across the dark hardwood floors.

They began by adjusting some of Death City Kid's existing songs, creating parts for Soul to play. Maka played out the songs on her acoustic as Soul found places for his piano to entwine with the song, marking it down on paper as they went.

It was actually not a bad way to pass the time Maka thought absently as she played through one of their songs. She was seated on the piano bench next to Soul, though her legs were swung around the opposite way, her back to the piano. It was a pretty relaxing way to spend the rest of the afternoon. The sunlight was filtering through the windows on top of them and warmed Maka's skin deliciously.

She paused as Soul experimented with a few notes. Head turned to the side she watched his hands flow across the keys smoothly, slender artist's hands. He paused, picking up a pencil and scratching out a note on his page delicately, trying not to smudge the rest of the page. He scribbled in the note he was looking for and continued for a little longer before trying again. He rested for a moment, stretching animatedly, cocking his head to the side to look at her.

"What do you think?" She smiled, guitar resting in her lap.

"Its really good, I think most of it seems to be coming together really well." He nodded, giving her a crooked smile in return for her own.

"We make a good team don't you think?" She nodded, plucking away at a few strings dreamily, she was on the verge of being dead tired and was fighting through it.

"I'm jealous of your piano skills," she laughed softly. "I always wanted to play, I begged my parents when I was little to put me in for lessons." He cracked his knuckles.

"They didn't let you?" She shook her head, ash blonde hair shifting over her shoulder as she did.

"It wasn't that they didn't want to, just with the divorce things were crazy a lot of the time. I moved around a lot between houses so it wasn't really easy for me to take lessons and stuff," she continued to pluck distractedly as she spoke, the dreamy tune weaving along with her words. "My Papa bought me a guitar for my birthday one year though. It was more convenient, I could take it with me from place to place so I taught myself to play and forgot about the piano." She stopped playing as Soul's silence, green eyes searching for his expression. He had this odd sort of look on his face, almost kind of sad though she didn't understand why, he turned away for a moment.

"Its never too late you know," he said finally after a beat of silence. She titled her head and gave him a sideways smile.

"Too late for what?" He reached over and brushed her hair out of her face casually. Maka was quite certain she forgot how to breath for a second. He'd done it so naturally, as if it were nothing.

"To learn to play the piano, I can teach you." She swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat a moment a go and nodded.

After putting down her guitar she sat on the piano bench, facing the piano this time. Soul went over the key's with her and showed her how to play 'twinkle twinkle little star.' She laughed when she realized what he was teaching her. Her fingers struggled to move across the keyboard as fluidly as Soul's did, she frowned, biting her lip in concentration. The hairs on the back of her neck prickled as she felt his eyes on her. Her finger stumbled across the wrong key and a sharp awkward sound elicited from her mistake. "Shoot." She muttered under her breath.

A hand came down on top of hers gently, she stiffened. Soul was calmly adjusting the way she was holding her fingers into the proper position. He paused, seeming to realize something was wrong. Though he continued to hold her hands loosely in his own.

"Maka?" he said quietly, her posture was tense. A slow smile spread across his face as he came to a realization. "Maka are you blushing?" She snatched her hands away, turning from him sharply.

"Of course not, don't be stupid…" she scowled, her back to him still. Her mind raced as she attempted to will her cheeks to stop burning. She cursed herself, she'd gotten too comfortable, she needed to fix the wall that normally stood mentally between her and anyone who hadn't gone through her careful examination period. Somehow this boy had infuriatingly managed to sneak around that wall. She needed distance.

She stood abruptly, keeping her back to him. "That's enough break time I think. Why don't we try writing something new? I'll go sit over there and try to write out some lyrics…you-you stay here and try to start the music." She leapt up, walking over to the couch and sitting herself down, picking up a notebook from the table and a pen, she hunkered down so the book hid her face.

* * *

><p>Soul stifled a sigh as he sat observing her for a moment. Completely closed off again. She'd loosened up as the afternoon had gone on. She'd been downright relaxed for the last hour. He hadn't even been really trying to put the moves on her. He knew she wasn't comfortable after her past experiences so it wouldn't be cool of him to try anything. Though he admitted he'd wanted to especially throughout that last hour. He reprimanded himself for pushing her hair out of her face. He just hadn't been able to resist, he liked the way it looked down and wanted to touch it so badly. He turned away to the piano again, feeling her absence from the space beside him sorely.<p>

They had made progress though, they'd completed the adjustments to the existing songs for the show on Thursday. They just had to put them into practice now with the rest of the band. His mind trailed to the thought of Chris, cursing him for making her like this and also bringing to mind his prior decision to talk to her about him today. He sighed. He hadn't played anything yet and she hadn't even commented on it. His eyes turned back to the couch where she sat.

In the time he'd been thinking she had dozed off. Curled up tightly in the corner the sunlight had moved across the room as the sun had moved across the sky. It now fell across her face, peaceful with sleep. Her ashy blonde hair glinted with gold in the sunlight. The notebook hugged into her chest, the pen held limply in one hand. She'd been yawning often and appeared tired the whole time so he wasn't shocked to see her asleep. He swung his legs around so he was sitting on the side of the bench.

"Maka?" he called softly. She didn't stir. He hung his head in despair. So much for talking to her about Chris. Soul stood and went to her, pulling a throw blanket over her. He settled onto the other end of the couch at her feet and sighed, he couldn't bear to wake her so he would stand guard while she slept.

* * *

><p>Maka wasn't sure what was going on, she woke to an unfamiliar swaying feeling. Her eyes peeled open, looking at a black clad chest. She was being carried? Her eyes flicked up to Kid's face, Kid was carrying her? Her gaze slid away from him, Liz was walking ahead of him, hands in her pockets. They were climbing stairs. She blinked sleepily.<p>

"Well hello sleepy head," Kid greeted, seeing she was awake.

"What's going on?" she murmured. Liz glanced back at her and smiled.

"You fell asleep at Black Stars, we showed up a little while ago and offered to take you home. You were out cold Maka." That was when she realized this was the stairwell of her apartment building.

"Soul…" she murmured, realizing she'd fallen asleep on him, leaving them on an awkward note. Kid grinned. "He's fine, he didn't want to wake you so he hung out for a little while to let you sleep then we showed up. I'm pretty sure he went home. He would have taken you but he had his bike and all." Maka nodded, wishing Kid would let her down but since they were climbing stairs it wasn't really a good place to do so.

They dropped her off at her apartment door, she smiled and thanked them for the ride home. Once inside she didn't do any of her regular homecoming activities, she went to her room and collapsed onto the bed, asleep again almost the instant she hit the pillow. Too tired to notice the pink wrapped present left inside her apartment on the floor by the door. A present that hadn't been there when she'd left that morning.

* * *

><p><strong>I've been trying to develop this at a reasonable pace though I am eager to rush forward into some other events I have in mind. XD<strong>

** I hope you've been enjoying so far and continue reading! More to come! Reviews are always love.**

**-Song **


	4. White Blank Page

**Helloooo! :3**

**Thank you to all reviewers! Its the greatest feeling to know someone is enjoying reading what I'm enjoying writing. Just so you know, this was going to be massive sort of SUPER chapter but I decided to break it off and just post it as separate chapters...it was getting much too long...**

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN SOUL EATER. Nor do I own those delicious fella's of Mumford and Sons or their spectacular music that was with me pretty much on repeat throughout the writing of this chapter therefore resulting in the chapter's title...and a small reference later just cause I felt like it...**

* * *

><p><em>Four: White Blank Page<em>

It sat on her table, wrapped in metallic pink paper. A silver ribbon tied around it, the ends curling over on themselves. She stared at it, she'd been staring at it for an hour now. She'd only had a single class early in the morning today, so when she'd noticed the package as she'd been hurrying out the door she hadn't had any time to open it.

When she'd come home two hours later she'd placed it on the table then gone and made herself some tea. She sat across from it at the table now, the steaming cup of tea before her. She spooned some sugar into the cup and took a tentative sip. She hadn't opened it yet, there was no card on it. What bothered her the most was how she didn't know how it had ended up _in _her apartment. Especially since she'd locked the door when she'd left yesterday morning and had to unlock it when she got home. She had to admit, the mystery present creeped her out a bit.

Marcus Mumford sang throatily in the background as the song playing on the stereo reached its peak. Goosebumps rose on her arms as they always did when the song reached that climactic point. She sipped her tea again, hesitantly she released her cup and reached for the gift, only to drop her hand when it had reached halfway. She was afraid to open it.

It wasn't particularly large, about a size larger than her palm. The wrapping was nice. She just couldn't figure for the life of her how it got inside her apartment. Well, she could, but none of the possibilities were innocent or pleasant ways.

Another song started, slow and melancholy, the beautiful guitar she loved in it weaving its way around the room. Frowning she plucked up the courage to pull the present towards her. She stared at her warped reflection in the shiny wrapping for a moment before slowly peeling it back. She swallowed thickly as it came away. A black box underneath. Still no letter from whoever had sent it. She lifted the lid, a thin piece of white paper lay folded on top of tissue wrapping. Her hands trembled as she picked up the note, there was a smaller box underneath; she ignored it for a moment to read the letter.

_Maka, _

_You weren't at school, or maybe I missed you after your classes. I had this present for you and everything, I was so disappointed but I figured I would leave it somewhere you would find it. I want you to wear this for your next show. I bought a ticket. I forgive you for not picking me up a backstage pass. I love you. Remember we belong together. You belong to me. _

_Love forever, Chris_

She crumpled the edges of the letter in her hands, the thin paper tearing beneath her fingers. Her breath was coming in small gasps. He'd been here. In her apartment. Somehow he'd found where she lived now. Somehow he'd unlocked the door and relocked it. No sign of him breaking in to be found. She struggled to calm herself, to swallow the lump in her throat. She dropped the note and picked up the smaller box. It was blue velvet and about the size of her palm. She opened it with still quivering fingers, inside on a bed of white silky fabric was a necklace, gold, a thin chain and hanging from the end a tiny golden 'M'.

M for Maka one would think. No, Maka knew better. M for Mine. That was why Chris had chosen it. Because that was what he believed, she was his and that was it. Her hand rested over her side, the ghost of pain that had been coming and going with the flash of a memory. She lifted the necklace for a moment, the light catching it before she let it fall into her palm, the chain coiling into a little golden pile. Her fist clenched over it tightly, she could feel the little links biting into her skin she gripped it so hard.

She threw it against the wall, the chain hitting the drywall with a smack and then slipping to the floor with a brief tinkling sound. She slapped the empty boxes away from her and tore up the note in her fit of rage and frustration, spilling her tea by mistake.

The dark liquid seeped across the table, soaking into the torn pieces of paper and staining them before swallowing them up. She didn't bother to leap up to clean it, she let it drip onto floor, the patter of it falling echoing in her ears with the music that suddenly seemed so loud to her. She put her face in her hands and shuddered, the spilled tea on the table soaking into the sleeves of her shirt.

* * *

><p>"Are you kidding me?" Black Star yelled, incapable of using an indoor voice. Tsubaki shushed him gently but he continued his tirade. "You don't have any new stuff for us!" A tension filled the room, mainly between Maka and Black Star, any tension felt by the others was based on them waiting for the two to try to tear each others throats out.<p>

Maka grit her teeth and was about to snarl a response but Soul interjected before she could. "Give us a break Black Star. We only had a day, unless you want musical vomit you need to give us some time."

They were sitting in Black Star's attic. It was late morning, just approaching lunch time, the day was hot and humid; as a result the attic was stuffy. The band was gathered to practice with Soul before their show the following evening. Patti sat at her drum set, sticks in hand ready to begin practice. Kid and Liz sat side by side on the cushy couch; Liz's legs draped over Kid's lap. Her guitar rested in her own lap as she was strumming away on it energetically without the amp plugged in, trying to ignore the arguing pair. Tsubaki stood holding her bass helplessly, halfway between the furious two. Soul was seated at the piano, chin in his palm as he leaned on the cover. Maka was standing, her arms folded, guitar left hanging over her shoulder by its strap. Black Star, who had been originally sitting in the arm chair was standing on it now, shouting, his face red.

"This is ridiculous Black Star. We're wasting time arguing about this, we should be practicing. We've hardly practiced with Soul at all our show tomorrow is going to suck if we don't get some more time in!" Maka snapped. Black Star glared.

"I'm the Manager and I-"

"Oh, shut up," Maka interrupted, lifting her guitar and beginning the opening to one of their songs. The sound roared out of the amp and quickly drowned Black Star out.

Liz hopped up off the couch and hurried over to plug in as Patti and Tsubaki started in on the song too. Soul joined in with his own part and Maka felt a shiver. It sounded…perfect. They had pieced it together so well, she thought, someone listening would have never said the song had not originally included piano. She leaned into the mic and began belting out the lyrics. Black Star had sat down when he realized their shouting match had ended prematurely. He looked surprisingly impressed. The piano tweaked their sound, taking a bit of the sharper edge off but in a good sort of way. The music had a more intense sort of feel to it, a building sort of anticipation even more powerful and stirring than it had been before. She couldn't help but grin as she played, Tsubaki's voice joining hers as she sang.

They played straight through into the next song without stopping, the rehearsal went smoothly until the fourth song where there was a bit of a fumble, the music not quite meshing properly as it had with the previous songs so they broke off to fix the timing and flow of it.

Practice came to a stop mid-afternoon. Several band members whining they were starving to death. They had done really well, it had been a productive practice and truthfully Maka felt comfortable with the show tomorrow in one aspect at least. She knew they would sound good. As to what she would do about Chris she didn't know yet.

They all traipsed downstairs to the kitchen for a late lunch.

"You guys sounded killer," Kid complimented as they crowded into the kitchen. Tsubaki was already pulling out assorted things to eat. Liz smirked knowingly.

"We always do." Kid smiled and tweaked her nose in a disgustingly affectionate manner.

"Well yeah, but even better than usual." Patti laughed at Tsubaki dropping something. Black Star stooped down to help her clean it up, speaking as he did.

"I admit, you sound good. Those two slackers actually did some good work." Maka narrowed her eyes.

"We are _not _slackers," she objected, her eyes sliding to look at Soul's reaction. Soul didn't look like it mattered too much to him, he was leaned up against the counter. He seemed to like doing that, leaning against things, making himself look like he was a part of the walls and furniture.

"Speak for yourself," he said in mock offence. "I'm proud of my slacker abilities." Black Star and Tsubaki stood from cleaning up the crackers she'd spilled.

"Also, he wasn't the one sleeping on the couch upstairs yesterday," Black Star added. Maka flushed and changed the subject.

* * *

><p>Soul watched Maka talk animatedly with Liz as they ate. Liz was describing an outfit she'd bought early that morning, tired of trying to describe it properly, Liz flitted from the room returning with a shopping bag. Maka smiled, looking amused at Liz's excitement over her new clothes. <em>She should smile more often. <em>He thought absently. They were chattering about what they were wearing for the show tomorrow, Patti had joined in excitedly and Tsubaki was shyly talking about the dress she'd bought while she'd been out with Black Star the day before. Maka was frowning now as the girls went on about how they thought with their new sound they should try going with a sort of theme for a new look.

He felt a sharp pain in his ribs as Black Star jabbed him in the side with his elbow. "You'd better be listening, what they're yapping about effects you too you know."

"Why would it? What's it matter to me what they're wearing?" Soul protested. Kid frowned.

"I don't know about that," he spoke up, looking him over with an expression of doubt. "You're a part of the band now, you'll be on stage with them, I'd bet they want you to match with them."

As if on cue, Patti came bounding over, her arm linked with Liz's. "Soouulll," she called in a sing-songy voice. He finished the last bite of a sandwich he'd been eating. "What?" Not bothering to mimic her sing-songy tune.

"Do you have a suit?" Soul frowned, he had one he thought but it had been a long time since he'd worn it. It probably didn't fit right anymore.

"Maybe, why?" he asked. Liz clapped her hands together, a determined expression on her face.

"Well if you don't have one you need to get one!" He gave her a blank look. "We want to go for a classy sort of look tomorrow night to support our new sound," she looked thoughtful. "Not too classy of course, classy with a taste of rock and roll." She looked more satisfied with that description.

"I'm gonna need something new then. The only suit I have isn't what you're looking for I don't think." _Not to mention the last time I wore it I was twelve. _

"Perfect!" Patti exclaimed and her sister nodded.

"Yes, Maka needs to pick something up too. You can go together." Soul didn't miss the mischievous glint in the two sisters eyes. He wasn't surprised really. Liz had looked practically giddy the previous evening when she'd come up to the attic and Soul had been sat at Maka's feet while she curled up and slept. Apparently it was a big deal that Maka had trusted him enough to fall asleep alone with him in the room.

He shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal, in truth he was pleased to have an excuse to spend more time with Maka. He still needed to talk to her about Chris after all.

* * *

><p>Maka's arms around his waist felt good; warm and small, her hands clutched tightly so she wouldn't fall off the back of the bike. She huddled against his back and he smiled when he realized she was trying to use him as a shield from the wind. The bike trembled beneath them as they stopped at a light. Maka was quiet, she had agreed to go shopping with him mainly because everyone else claimed they couldn't and insisted she needed something new for the upcoming show. He figured she was still nervous about being alone with him after her panicked moment the day before.<p>

The light blinked green and the bike leapt forward, Maka's grip around his waist tightening involuntarily as it went. He didn't want to admit to the way it made his stomach feel like it was full of butterflies. This girl, it was unnatural the way she made him feel. In truth he hardly knew her so he didn't understand why he already felt this tugging in his chest when she was near him or when he thought of her. He worried about his image; acting like he was a sixteen year old boy with a sappy crush on some girl was definitely not cool.

They pulled into the parking lot of the mall and they hopped off, locking up the bike and heading inside. Liz had provided him with a list of stores to browse through. He figured shopping for himself would be easy enough. Liz had told him what she wanted for them, he had a feeling Maka was going to difficult about this though.

Maka looked severely uncomfortable and a little lost as they entered the first shop. A pink-tinge to her cheeks as she observed some of the clothes on the rack. He supposed she might consider them a bit risqué compared to her normal wardrobe. His mind couldn't help imagining her trying them on though. Eventually she just grabbed him by the arm and pulled him out of the shop without trying on a single thing.

"Whoa, what's going on?" She looked down, apparently refusing to look at him. He frowned and leaned a little, trying to peer under the curtain of her bangs she was hiding behind. She realized what he was trying to do and ducked away awkwardly.

"Maybe we should do our shopping separately and meet back here." He shook his head, staring the back of her down.

"No, Liz said you won't pick what she wants for tomorrow. Do you think I want to face her down after you've picked out the wrong clothes? You're stuck with me." She turned back to face him with an annoyed look. He took her by the wrist and started towards the store Liz had thought would be best without another word. "We'll get a shop keeper to help us since I don't have a clue about this sort of thing and you obviously are not even going to try." She dug her heels in so it was difficult for him to pull her.

"Wait wait wait," she chanted. He ignored her and kept pulling, her sneakers slid across the marble floors with a squeak, a few people observing the scene they were making.

"Maka," he said firmly. "We are buying you a new outfit for the show tomorrow."

"Alright, alright!" she yelped. "I promise we will, lets pick out yours first though!" He stopped dragging her along and she shrugged him off. "I swear I'll be good and try on whatever you bring me, just lets get yours first…" She gave him a pleading sort of look and he couldn't help but agree to it. His mind wandering from her promise to try on whatever he brought her, perhaps taking it a little too literally.

* * *

><p>Soul stepped out of the change room as he was shrugging into the jacket to the suit he'd been given. Maka hadn't wasted any time, she'd seemed to know what she was looking for. Soon as they had entered she'd disappeared into the store for a moment and returned with a crimson coloured dress shirt and a black pin stripe suit. After the store clerk assisted in figuring out appropriate sizes she'd shoved him into the dressing room to try it on.<p>

Maka was seated on a fluffy looking armchair, slumped, she sat low in the seat. She had a bored look about her but when she caught sight of him her expression changed. Her lips parted as if she had something to say but she didn't speak. She closed her mouth and sat up a bit.

"Tha-t," her voice cracked and she cleared her throat. "That looks really good." He glanced down at himself and shrugged. He looked like he always did he thought. He couldn't place the expression she was wearing, it was unusual, a flush crept across her cheeks and he felt a grin spread across his face as he realized what the expression meant. She thought he looked _that _good? Certainly this was progress.

He did a turn for her and she nodded again, telling him this was definitely it. "Maybe I should try something else on?" She shook her head adamantly.

"No. This is perfect. It's exactly what I-" she stumbled over her words. "Liz wanted. This is what she described. The colours are going to be a sort of theme. Red and black."

She stood and took a hesitant step towards him. He didn't move, afraid if he did he would scare her and she would skitter away like birds or squirrels did when you moved to fast or got too close. She paused a few steps in front of him and reached out. He watched as her delicate fingers shook as she adjusted his crooked tie. She smoothed it and his shirt down, running a hand across his chest. He hoped she couldn't feel the way his heart was thundering. He involuntarily sucked in a breath at the feel of her trailing fingertips; she leapt back with wide eyes as if she only just realized what she'd done. She turned away from him abruptly and he resisted sighing in frustration as she tried to distance herself again.

"Alright," he said softly, resigned that she was probably done touching him for quite awhile. "I'll go take this off so I can buy it."

* * *

><p>The lady in the women's clothing store was unbelievably perky. She was almost beside herself when they asked for her help, pulling an alarmed Maka into a hug and exclaiming how excited she was to help them. Soul wanted to laugh at Maka's expression but restrained himself when he saw her murderous glare.<p>

The woman's nametag had so many stickers on it they couldn't make out what her name was. She was a pretty lady with chin length brown hair parted to the side and clipped out of her face with brightly coloured barrettes. Her big brown eyes were sort of dazed and dreamy like she was off in her own little world. She practically danced around the store chattering about the different things she would have Maka try and how adorable she would look.

Soul sat on the couches by the change rooms, a trendy looking couch made of a furry material he was couldn't decide if he liked or not. The sales clerk was a whirlwind as she piled items into Maka's arms and pushed her towards the change room saying she could start with those and she'd be back with more. Maka's small form weighed down by piles of clothes staggered into a change room. The lock clicking shortly after the door was closed.

He could hear her shuffling behind the door as she struggled to change. Her shoes visible under the door scuffling about as she pulled on one of the items. The door creaked open and she came into view slowly through the crack.

"This is no good…" she mumbled. He grinned and gave her a come hither gesture. She wrinkled her nose but listened and moved closer so he could see her better. She had changed into an all black number and personally he liked it but he could see she was uncomfortable and it wasn't really the style they were going for anyway. He hummed and hawed over it to bother her but eventually she went back to the change room.

They repeated this process several times. Each time Maka got a little quicker in moving forward to show him until she didn't hesitate at the doorway anymore at all. About the tenth dress in she stepped out and Soul had to remind himself to breathe. This was most definitely the one.

She moved towards him and he watched quietly for a moment. It wasn't a long dress, it grazed the tops of her thighs but it didn't matter as, in his own opinion anyway, she had great legs. The bodice was tight and the cut of it made her look like she had more curves than usual on her slim body. It had one strap on the left shoulder, a red ribbon tied in a bow. It was black made of a silky sort of material, the skirt flared out at her hips, gathering a-symmetrically in a large bow at one side, red tulle underneath puffing in out. She frowned as she adjusted the red bow on her shoulder.

"I don't know…"

"Its perfect." He told her. She touched her bare shoulders self consciously.

"I feel like I'm naked on top…" He stood and moved towards her, reaching up he gently undid her hair, letting it fall around her shoulders and cover them.

"Just wear your hair down. It looks nice this way anyways." The tension between them in that moment was thick. For once she actually met his gaze, their eyes locked for a moment then she turned away, going back into the change room without a word.

* * *

><p>They'd decided to go back to Black Star's once they'd finished their shopping. Black Star had texted both of them repeatedly about writing some new stuff. He was still furious they hadn't written anything yet no matter how unreasonable his demand was. He just went on about how he could do it so they should be able to as well.<p>

So they were back in the attic, just the two of them. Their charming band had left a note stating they'd gone to dinner and not specifying where they'd went. Maka had texted them twice but received no answer. Soul wasn't surprised, he suspected this was Liz's doing. She seemed particularly keen on forcing the two of the to get to know one another. Not that he was complaining.

Maka was humming something, snuggled into the corner of the couch with her acoustic rested against the arm, a note book and pencil in hand. Soul was fiddling with the piano, playing absently, feeling bereft of inspiration in that moment. Maka looked up suddenly, her humming coming to an abrupt halt.

"Hey Soul." He glanced over at her, the sun at that place in the sky where it fell directly on top of where she sat. He was realizing the more time he spent with her, that she was like a cat, seeking out the sunlight and basking in it when she could. She'd put her hair up in pigtails again at some point.

"What?"

"Are you close with your family?" He furrowed his brow.

"Well that certainly came out of nowhere," he said avoiding the subject. She shrugged.

"I just…I told you about my family sort of…I was just realizing I didn't know anything about yours. I was thinking it was rude of me for not asking." Soul scratched his head idly.

"Not really, I mean we've only known each other a very short while. You can't expect us to know everything about one another already. Your family sort of came up in conversation. Mine didn't. That's all." She gave the page in her lap a hard look, clearly realizing he was skirting around the question.

"Its okay if you don't want to tell me," she said softly. "I understand. I was just kind of curious." He sighed.

"Listen, I'll tell you about my family but there is a condition." Her gaze lifted off the page to him again.

"Condition?" He swallowed, not sure if his plan was the best one; not sure if this was the best way to approach the touchy subject…

"I wanted to talk about Chris." The colour drained from her face though he had to give her credit, her expression didn't turn to one of horror as he expected, she still looked calm.

"Why?" She paused, not expecting an answer and then continued. "There is no possible reason I can think of for you to bring that up." She looked down at the notebook again, her posture and the more open air she'd had about her already shutting down.

"What I saw that night…" he started. "It wasn't good Maka…I was worried…so I asked Black Star about Chris." Her head snapped up.

"You did what!" her voice squeaked as it rose.

"Calm down, he doesn't know what happened I just asked who he was. Black Star has no idea what's going on." Her level of panic seemed to lessen for the moment. She sighed wearily.

"Maka…" he said quietly. She'd covered her face in her hands. "Maka you don't have to deal with it alone. You can trust me, I want to help you."

"Why?" she whispered. "Why do you want to help, you hardly know me. And it doesn't matter anyways, who said I need help? You saw him that one time so you assume that-"

"He showed up at your school the other day after I dropped you off…" Her hands pulled away from her face, a plainly terrified look on her face.

"He-what did he do? Did he talk to you…did he try to hit you?" Soul shook his head.

"Nothing too extreme, he just showed up, he was mad I'd dropped you off." She shook her head like she was trying to make what he said a lie.

"No no no," she murmured over and over. She looked up at him with a serious, pleading expression. "Soul…please…stay away from him. You don't understand-"

"No you're right I don't," he said a little harsher than intended, interrupting her. "Maka your friends care about you. They want to help you. Has Chris showed up again?" He took her silence as a yes. "Maka if he's following you we can do something. You don't have to just let it happen." He took a chance and moved to sit closer to her. She stiffened but didn't move.

"I…Soul I don't want to talk about this," she whispered. He felt his temper flare but held it in check. Losing his temper on her would only make things worse he was sure of it. She looked so afraid, he wanted nothing more than to fold her into his arms and make it all go away.

"Maka," he said softly, fiercely. "Stop it." Her brow puckered in confusion.

"Wh-what?" she asked.

"Stop acting like you're alone, like nobody can help you. You have people that care about you so suck it up. I know its hard for you to ask for help. Hell I've only known you a few days and I know its tough for you but you've gotta do it. You're better than letting some jerk walk all over you."

He leaned in, toying with the ends of one of her pigtails. Her green eyes shone and all he could think of was how badly he wanted to kiss her. To make her understand he could help, that for some reason beyond his own understanding, he cared. She reached up and wrapped her small hands around his wrist, pulling his hand away from her face.

"Don't you get it?" she whispered. "I'm trying to keep you all safe..." She stood and hurried away, disappearing down the steps out of the attic. Soul made a noise of frustration and leaned back, running his hands through his colorless hair. Just when he thought he was getting somewhere with her it always ended in her running away. He didn't know how to make her stop running.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Another shall be posted very quickly here! Possibly later today, if not early tomorrow. This chapter may appear less than thrilling compared to others...the next is going to be a wild one though I promise you. I just felt these bits were necessary... Reviews earn you my undying love.**

**-Song**


	5. After the Storm

**As promised! Another Chapter fairly quick!**

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN SOUL EATER! Nor do I own Mumford and Son's song 'After the Storm' that I have selected as this Chapters title. The song was just too perfect to not use.  
><strong>

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><p><em>Five: After the Storm<em>

The bar Black Star had booked for them was one of the newer clubs in the city and had recently become quite a hot spot. '_Witches Moon'_ was its name; displayed on a neon purple sign. It was downright huge compared to Spirits bar and actually only a few blocks away from Maka's place in the opposite direction of her school though.

The crowd was decent even though it was a Thursday night, they were chanting out on the floor. Maka stood nervously at the edge of the curtain, peering through to the crowd on the other side. Soul watched her quietly. She hadn't spoken more than two words to him since she'd ran away from him in the attic the day before. He'd tried texting her but she'd ignored him, even tried to call once but nothing. He'd helped her carry in some sound equipment and she'd thanked him but then scurried away.

She was wearing the dress she'd bought while they'd been out, she'd paired it with black stockings with red polka dots. She'd worn her beat up pair of chucks with it though and Liz had been horrified of course.

Her soft, ashy blonde hair was down as he'd suggested to her, he watched as she drew away from the curtain and Liz approached her; her bright red patent pumps clicking across the floor.

Liz had selected something more curve hugging for her outfit, black with a plunging neckline that displayed her assets quite plainly. The edge of her skirt clung mid-thigh with a red ruffle around it. Thin straps held the dress up and she'd styled her hair in a messy bun on the side of her head. Liz held up a red bow and was clipping it into Maka's hair as Patti appeared from setting up equipment on the stage, drumsticks in hand.

Patti had picked out a tight, t-shirt style dress, the skirt was short barely touching her thighs, the open back made up for the relatively tame front. She wore bright red tights and black ankle high boots with it, her favourite black fedora perched on her head. "Where's Tsubaki?" Patti asked in a perky tone, her face was flushed with excitement for the show.

Black Star was sitting on a chair with his arms folded, a moody expression on his face.

"She's talking to the bouncer…he offered her a drink." Soul raised an eyebrow, clearly Black Star was not happy about this. The bouncer had been a good looking guy, long pale hair and a mysterious expression, kind of thin for a bouncer but he'd had an intense sort of way about him that Soul could see as being found intimidating. He patted Black Star on the shoulder sympathetically but he threw him off in disgust; standing and muttering something about going to talk to the bar owner.

Soul glanced over at Maka, she turned her face away abruptly; her expression closed off. She'd turned so quickly though he knew she'd been watching him. He sighed heavily, deciding to get a drink before the show.

* * *

><p>He weaved his way through the tightly packed crowd towards the bar. Tsubaki was seated on one of the high bar stools, the bouncer beside her, leaned in close. She laughed at something he said and he smiled easily and leaned back. Soul was tempted to interrupt them, for Black Star's sake more than anything, but he stopped himself. Tsubaki was a sweet girl and deserved to be happy, if Black Star was too much of an idiot to express how he felt to her she had a right to move on. Black Star would have to smarten up and make a move.<p>

A woman was tending the bar, she had a shock of pink hair and was provocatively dressed as she leaned across the bar to take his order. She handed him the beer he asked for and he thanked her, the tip he tossed into her little jar clinking against the glass.

He could see Black Star talking to the owner animatedly not too far away, gesturing wildly. They had a little bit of time before the show started and he was at a loss for what to do. Maka wouldn't talk to him and in truth that was all he wanted to do was talk to her. He shook himself, he was being stupid. She was just a girl in his band, it didn't make any sense for him to be pining over her. How un-cool was that?

Someone shoved him roughly from behind just as he was talking a drink from his beer. He spluttered and thankfully only managed to spill on the floor, a little bit dribbling down his chin. He whirled around with a spark of annoyance. His annoyance ignited into fury when he saw who had shoved him,

Chris stood behind him, looking as much like a prick as he always did. His blonde hair spiked all over his head like it had been the first time Soul had seen him. Soul noticed his eyebrow was pierced, he wasn't sure if that was new or if it had always been that way.

"What's your problem?" Soul said coolly, his red eyes narrowed.

"You," he spat. Soul downed the rest of his beer and put the empty bottle down on the bar.

"Well I'm sorry but I don't have time to deal with little prick's. I've got a show starting in," he pretended to glance at a watch he wasn't wearing. "Now." He glanced around; Tsubaki had already left, the bouncer was gone too. Black Star had disappeared from where he'd been too. He was thankful they weren't there to see the confrontation for Maka's sake. But he cursed it as well, it could have been the easiest way for the others to find out Chris was still around without him telling them and betraying her trust.

He tried to shrug past him to head towards the stage but Chris shouldered into his path.

"Listen up," Chris hissed. "Maka is _mine_, this is your last warning to stay away from her. I've seen you around together. At the mall shopping, taking her to lunch, giving her rides around on your little bike." Soul's lip twitched in half-amusement. "Just. Stay. Away." Soul grit his teeth. If he didn't have a show he would have kicked the shit out of the little bastard then and there. He chose to say nothing and turned sharply, heading towards the stage. Chris shouted something at his back but the crowds chatter swallowed up his words. Soul would have to keep a careful eye on Maka tonight now that he knew Chris was around.

* * *

><p>The band huddled together back stage, an awkward group hug of sorts. Kid was taping on a handheld camcorder. He'd whispered to Soul he would be showing his Dad the footage later, keeping this from the girls unless he got a good review. As they pulled away from one another Soul could make out the sound of Black Star attempting to introduce them out on stage. Shouting obnoxiously into the mic about how great he was for managing them and bringing them here for everyone to enjoy. Patti whipped out a flask with a grin, passing it around. Maka had been peering through the curtain again, she looked sick when she pulled away. Liz threw her arm around Maka's shoulder.<p>

"What's wrong? You never get nervous for our shows."

"Not nervous…" she mumbled, looking down. Patti shoved the flask into her hands.

"This'll calm your nerves!" she laughed. Soul watched as Maka contemplated the flask and then tipped it against her lips, throat working as she drank. Patti took it away gently. "Whoa there," she cackled. "Remember to share." Maka made a face as the taste of the alcohol hit her, her cheeks flushed now.

Black Star appeared at the curtain. "Break a leg ladies," he nodded to Soul. "And gentleman."

* * *

><p>The stage was dark as they slipped into their places, the murmurs of the crowd filling the room. Soul had a brief sense of deja vu from the first time he watched them play though this time he was on the stage with them. They'd picked the same first song as the last time, it a popular number to start with. They'd altered it though, instead of starting with Tsubaki's bass they'd created an introduction where he played. He set his hands to the keys. They'd had to set up a keyboard as the bar didn't have a piano of its own like Spirit's did.<p>

The sound moved through the darkness like water and a hush fell over the crowd. Tsubaki's bass started out through the amp as the sound of the piano faded out. The lights flashed on, he could see Maka's profile from the angle he was standing. She gave that cocky sort of smile she always did when she played and her voice rang out through the mic clear and pure.

He could make out the swaying crowd through the flashing lights. All formless shapes beyond the light, roiling to the beat. The crowds cheering rose as Maka held a note. Despite her looking so ill earlier her showmanship certainly didn't suffer. With bright eyes she leapt around the stage, playing voraciously, her and Liz went back to back as they broke into an instrumental.

* * *

><p>Maka's face felt warm as she leaned into the mic, leaving her guitar for a moment as she sang the chorus fervently. All she'd been able to think about before was Chris and Soul but when she was on stage it all melted away. She spun while playing, coming face to face with the white haired boy she'd been avoiding. His red eyes shone out at her and her heart thudded in her chest. She grinned at him and he looked surprised but grinned back, tapping away at the keys skilfully.<p>

Her head swam. Whatever Patti had in the flask was hitting her hard. It didn't help she'd had four Strongbow before that. As always she lost herself in the music, letting it wash over her. She leaned in so close she practically kissed the mic as she purred the last lyric.

They had to hurry off the stage, another band was playing after them. Death City Kid's members filed into the back room, carrying their equipment with them. Maka stumbled a little as she followed, Tsubaki steadied her and asked if she needed help in a concerned tone. Maka shook her head, Tsubaki sounded strangely far away.

"I-" she frowned and put a hand to her head in an attempt to stop the spinning. "I need some air, that's all." Tsubaki nodded and told her to go and do that, they'd take care of the equipment.

Coming down the steps she felt a wave of dizziness she paused and sunk down to sit on one of the stairs to let her head clear. _Wait._ She thought dazedly. _Stairs?_ Somehow in her attempt to find the way outside she'd ended up in an empty stairwell. She sighed and stood. A doorway was placed at the bottom of the stairs, a bright red exit sign flickering above it. Shakily she made her way to the door.

The blast of fresh air cleared her head enough to focus properly as she stepped out into a back alley. She used a block of wood that had been sitting idly in the alley to hold it open. The sky was grey like sheet metal, the humidity that had been in the air the past couple of days was at a breaking point. Thunder cracked across the sky making her jump, she laughed as herself a little as she leaned against the door for a moment, closing her eyes and enjoying the cool breeze. A familiar voice came from somewhere in the shadows. "Maka, Baby…" Her eyes flew wide.

* * *

><p>Soul held one end of the bass drum, Black Star held the other. His eyes scanned the room, she wasn't there. His stomach lurched. Patti had needed help with her drum set, she'd asked him and Black Star about it and he'd lost track of Maka while they moved it off stage quickly so the next band could get ready. Where had she gone? He spotted her guitar case, covered in stickers from the all the places they'd played and assorted other ones she'd just liked.<p>

He and Black Star set the bass drum down gently.

"Where's Maka?" Soul asked, trying to keep the panic out of his voice. Black Star shrugged. Liz and Kid were too busy pushed up against the wall making out to hear him. "Hello?" he said a little impatiently. "Where'd Maka go?" Tsubaki looked up from the cord she'd been wrapping up.

"Oh," she smiled a little like she was amused. "She went to get some air, a little too much to drink I think." Soul wanted to throttle her for the light tone she used but he restrained himself. Tsubaki didn't know Chris was here tonight, it wasn't her fault. She was just amused at her friend's drunken state.

"Which way did she go?" he asked as urgently as he could without arising suspicion. Patti laughed as she approached when she realized they were talking about Maka.

"I sent her out the back way so she'd have a little privacy while she took a breath, poor thing, shouldn't have drank so much of my magic juice." She grinned. Soul turned and bolted towards the back stairway without waiting for them to say more.

Liz came up for air, Kid looking dazed and pleased with himself. "I hope he's going to confess his undying love or something," she commented. "Or at least going to get her off, she needs to relax and the sexual tension between those two is ridiculous." Patti chuckled and Liz went back to kissing Kid. Tsubaki only flushed and glanced at Black Star shyly.

* * *

><p>Shoving the heavy metal door aside Soul hurried down the steps. The worst sort of scenarios running through his head. The exit sign flickered overhead and he noticed the door at the bottom of the steps was opened a crack, the smell of fresh rain wafting through and shouts echoing into the stairwell.<p>

He pushed it open and stepped outside, as the scent had confirmed it had started raining, dark clouds overhead. Maka was in the alley and not alone. As Soul had expected Chris was there. Maka was against the brick wall beside the dumpster. The side of her face was bruised and scraped as though it had been ground against the wall, which he suspected it had. A thin stream of blood trickled down her face from a cut by her eye, she was holding her gut, looking pained and angry.

The bastard stood with his back to Soul, as he had the first time Soul had seen him.

"I told you your mine!" He struck her across the face before Soul could stop him, Maka cried out and fell to her knees. She glared up at him, holding her cheek, breathing heavily.

"Say it as many times as you want it doesn't make it true," she huffed out bravely. "You can hit me as many times as you want…" He moved towards her and she didn't even flinch. "It doesn't change anything."

"Why don't you love me Maka!" he shouted, sounding more hurt than a person like him had any right to be. "You didn't wear the gift I left you," his voice was a strangled cry. "I love you Maka, you're _mine._"

He raised a leg in preparation to stomp on her but Soul was on him before it could happen. He tackled him onto the ground the two of the tumbling into the alley. Maka's eyes went wide.

"Soul!" she breathed.

Soul grappled with Chris on the ground, the struggle ending with him on top. His rage un-bottled he struck Chris once across the jaw, twice, thrice. The heavy sound of his fist slamming into flesh and bone echoing through the alley. Chris grabbed a handful of mud and grit and tossed it into Soul's face. Unable to see and his eyes burning with grime Chris was able to push him off. Wiping the mud out of his eyes Soul cleared his vision before Chris could strike again. The blonde bolted forward and struck him in the gut but Soul caught his arm and twisted him around flipping him onto his back.

* * *

><p>Maka watched in fascinated horror as the two forms grappled on the ground. She struggled to stand, wanting to go to them and break it up before Soul got hurt. Supporting herself with the wall she made her way along, realizing that Soul was holding his own. No. He was <em>winning. <em>

In that moment the tables turned, Chris tripped Soul up and he fell hard on the ground. The blonde grabbed for a dilapidated, heavy looking chair that had been set out in the trash. He lifted it with a grunt of exertion over his head. If he struck Soul with it he would cave his head in.

Lightning flashed. Maka screamed.

"Stop!"

Chris froze, rain sliding down his face. His wild gaze turned to her, the enraged expression he held slipping away. Maka hobbled over a quickly as she could. Falling down in front of Soul, shielding him from Chris' blow. "Don't hurt him." She whispered. She felt Soul's hands on her, trying to pull her out of the way. Maka thought he was shouting at her the move, calling her an idiot but the sound was distant over the hammering of her heart in her chest.

Chris lowered the makeshift weapon. "Maka?" he sounded broken. "You would choose him over me?" She didn't answer that, only glared up at him furiously. He put the chair down and his lip curled into a sneer, looking past her to Soul and then back at her again. "This isn't over. It will never be over. You're making a mistake Maka. I love you." He was nodding as he spoke as though trying to convince her. She stood with Soul's help, keeping a large amount of space between them.

"Go," Maka said in a low voice, her tone deadly. "Don't ever come back." Chris snarled like a wild animal and turned away, disappearing into the dark of the alley.

It felt like she'd been holding her breath, her knee's buckled but Soul caught her.

* * *

><p>Soul supported her carefully, Maka leaned against him weakly, looking up into his face. Her hair was plastered to her cheeks from the rain, her skin felt like ice.<p>

"We need to get you inside, we need to go see a doctor or something." She shook her head adamantly.

"No," she said. "Please…I…if I go back in there…they'll ask questions and-" He frowned.

"Maka their going to ask questions next time they see you. Your injuries won't be healed that quickly." He brushed his fingertips across her cheek to push her hair out of the way gently but she flinched a little.

"I…" she whispered. "I know but I don't want to answer questions now. I'd rather do it later…" He sighed heavily, already knowing he was going to give into her request. Shock filled him as she leaned her forehead against his chest. "Please," her voice was small. "I'm okay really. I just want to go home now."

"Alright, but you aren't going home alone. I'll give you a ride."

"But its raining-" she started.

"And we're both already wet."

As they walked towards the street where he'd parked his bike the air between them felt strange. Maka was subdued but oddly relaxed. He walked a little bit behind her so he could keep watch on her. She stopped suddenly; turning to look at him with an odd expression. The rain pattering over her and creating a fine mist on the air. After a few strides he was close enough to touch her. For the second time she surprised him with a bold move. Her small hand slipped into his, she squeezed lightly and he folded his hand over hers to squeeze back. She still walked a little bit ahead of him, not looking at him at all like she was trying to make it seem like it was no big deal for her to be holding his hand.

He forced her into his jacket she was shivering so hard when they reached the bike. They both got on and she hugged his waist tightly, her hands lost in the sleeves of the too big jacket. She murmured directions to her house and Soul pulled out of his parking spot.

* * *

><p>Maka felt strange as she walked up the steps to her apartment, Soul a few steps behind. She felt almost…reluctant to reach her door. Soul would leave then wouldn't he? A small fear struck her that Chris knew where she lived, knew how to get into her apartment.<p>

She didn't want Soul to go. She unlocked the door to her apartment slowly and Soul stood beside her, hands in his pockets. The door opened a crack and she hesitated, turning to face him.

"Soul I…" she whispered. He shrugged, pushing wet hair sticking to her face out of her eyes.

"It was nothing, you don't have to say anything. Will you be okay?" She caught his hand, holding it between her own, she nodded.

"I do have to say something…what you did…I just…thank you-" she sighed. "I'm not good at this. I don't know how to say it right…just thank you…" He smiled toothily and turned to go as she slid into the apartment.

The door closed softly behind her and she pressed her back against it for a moment her mind racing. The apartment felt especially empty and lonely. A silence louder than anything filling the room. She didn't want him to go. Her eyes widened at the casual realization. She _didn't want him to go. _

Whirling, she threw open the door, heart racing. It was too late to back out now, her mind was made up, she knew what she was going to do.

"Soul," she called down the hallway. He'd barely made it a few steps, he turned with an eyebrow raised giving her a curious look. She took a few hesitant steps, slow at first, then she was running. Soul had turned around fully his eyes wide as she threw herself at him. He caught her as she slammed her lips into his, legs wrapped around his waist, arms around his neck.

To his credit, Soul only took a second to recover from his astonishment and then he was kissing her back. She felt like she was drowning, her hands in his damp hair as they awkwardly stumbled into the apartment; hardly breaking for air. Her heart hammered in her chest as he kicked the door shut behind them. Now she was burning up. Drowning in fire.

They laughed softly between urgent kisses as they both struggled to get their shoes off without disentangling themselves from one another. Finally free of their footwear he set her on a small shelf by her doorway, pressing her back against the wall as he trailed kisses down her neck.

"Couch," he rasped, a question, though it didn't come out like one. His hand cupped her breast.

"B-ed," she told him as she arched her back into his touch, gesturing in the direction of the bedroom behind her. He let her down and they shuffled to the bedroom. The door opened roughly, slamming against the wall. Lightning flashed through the window lighting up the dark apartment for a moment.

They fell onto the bed and Maka moaned softly against Soul's lips as his hands roamed. His hands spread warmth over her icy skin in a delectable fashion. She slipped her hands under his shirt, running them over the hard muscle of his back he shivered at her trailing fingertips. Her cold fingers fumbled with the buttons on the front of his shirt, he'd already removed his tie ages ago during the show. Soul's own hands yanked the jacket he'd lent her off, tossing it onto the floor. He hiked up her skirt, pulling off her stockings with a grin at the squeal she gave. His hand ran along the perfectly sculpted calves and then up along her equally perfect thighs.

"Damn you've got great legs," he growled appreciatively. She blushed and gasped a little as his hand grazed past her panties to run along her side.

He froze, fingertips trailing over raised skin. Maka gasped and pulled away like she'd been electrocuted.

"Maka," he said quietly. "What is that?" she looked down, cheeks red, hiding her face behind her damp locks. "Its nothing," she tried to scramble to lower her skirt before he could see. He took her hands firmly and moved them. She didn't resist, not really. She was resigned he would see it now anyways, they'd gone this far after all.

She closed her eyes and bit her lip as it came into view.

* * *

><p>"Mine," Soul read in a whisper. Anger and pity bubbling up in his gut. A red, nasty looking scar that was quite clearly the word 'mine', burned into her flesh. She looked ashamed, eyes closed. He touched her face and she opened her eyes, green and shining with tears. "Did he do this to you?" he asked her quietly. She swallowed and nodded.<p>

"Yes," she answered, her voice almost inaudible. He couldn't contain the fury he felt and he knew it flashed across his features.

"That sonofabitch," he snarled.

"He…I was sleeping…he heated up this charm on a bracelet he'd given me and he came up and pressed it against my side while I was asleep." A tear slid out from under her lashes and down her cheek; his heart broke. "I- he's just-it _hurt. _He said 'That's so you'll always remember who you belong to.'" She shuddered and he pulled her against his chest. "I'm so afraid…not even for me…I've always thought if he's messed up enough to do this stuff to me, what if I fought back? What would he do to get back at me? He already hurt Kurtis so badly. What if he went after someone else I care about?" Soul assumed Kurtis was the guy Black Star had mentioned, the one Chris had beaten to a bloody pulp to put the fear of god into Maka.

Soul bent down and kissed the raised flesh on her side, his hair tickling her skin. She trembled beneath him. Lifting his head he gave her a sad smile, brushing a tear from her cheek with his thumb. He sat up, the two of them kneeling face to face. His hands cupped her cheeks, her face was a pale smudge in the dim light of the room. The rain had slowed, only lightly pattering on window now. He locked his eyes with hers.

"Tonight, there is no Chris. I want you to pretend he doesn't exist." She nodded, sniffling a little. He pressed his lips to hers, more tenderly than they had kissed before.

"Erase him," she whispered against his lips, "please." The way she whispered please made him shiver, made him want to crush him against her. But he would be gentle with her now. She leaned back, looking up at him shyly from beneath her lashes; her hands circled his neck and she pulled him down on top of her.

* * *

><p><strong>So there we have it! Kind of short compared to the others but originally this was to be smushed together with 'White Blank Page'. Another chapter to come! Reviews equal my undying love as per usual.<strong>

**-Song :3  
><strong>


	6. She's Got You High

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN SOUL EATER. NOR DO I OWN THE SONG 'She's Got You High' by Mumm-Ra. A delightful tune, if you haven't heard it before you should. It's a shame the bands not together anymore. But I digress... Without further adieu, enjoy :3  
><strong>

* * *

><p><em>Six: She's Got You High<em>

A shaft of sunlight peered through the curtain, falling across Maka's cheek. Her eyes were closed, hair fanned out across the pillow like a halo. Soul sat next to her on the bed. He'd been awake for a few minutes and had taken a moment to watch her. To Soul's disappointment, by some design of fate; the tangled blankets covered her most intimate parts, then again he'd seen it all last night anyways. Though he admitted the taut, white strip of stomach that was uncovered made his heart race. Her chest rose and fell gently with each breath.

She mumbled something in her sleep and turned over, her bruised face looked painful. It really needed to be tended to but he couldn't bear to wake her with how she looked. He crawled carefully out of the bed and quietly went to go take a shower.

As the heated water rolled over him he frowned and licked his dry lips. He could still taste her. Last night had been a unexpected pleasure. He'd never thought it would happen to be honest, that she had instigated especially shocked him.

He'd kissed girls before, slept with girls before…but last night…every touch had been electric, every kiss left fireworks behind his eyes. He could not deny the chemistry they had. He worried what she would be like when she woke. Would she regret it? He hoped not. He frowned. Why did he care so much? It bothered him to no end. He had this intense need to keep her safe, the way she had looked when he had seen her scar, when she had opened up to him about what happened. It made him feel angry and helpless; and a number of other feelings he didn't want to pay too much attention to.

He glanced at the items she had stacked on the shelf in her shower. Girly shampoos, conditioners, soaps and body washes. None of them were suitable for someone as cool and manly as himself. He frowned, a dilemma before him.

* * *

><p>Maka's eyes opened slowly, painfully. The side of her face ached, each blink made the cut by her eye sting. She yawned and stretched like a cat. Flashes of night before ran through her mind and an uncontrollable flush made its way across her cheeks. She realized she was naked under the sheets. <em>Naked.<em> She never slept naked.

She rolled over and found the bed beside her empty. Her heart clenched inside her chest and she grew angry with herself at the hollow feeling that came over her at the realization she was alone in bed. _Of course._ She thought bitterly, why would he have stuck around? She'd given him what he wanted, had quite literally thrown herself at him. She signed heavily, pushing the painful, empty feelings away as she sat up; clutching the blanket to her chest.

She swung her legs over the side of the bed and wrapped the blanket around herself to guard her naked flesh from the rooms chill. The sky between the curtains was a gloomy sort of grey, darkening her mood. She wanted sunshine. She always wanted sunshine.

He had _felt _like sunshine. Stupid and cliché as it sounded. Every touch had warmed her skin like the sun and every kiss had made her burn like fire.

She stared at the floor for a moment, searching the ground for an item of clothing. Her eyes widened, his pants were still on the floor…so was his shirt…his jacket…his boxers…He was wandering somewhere in the nude?

The sound of the bathroom door creaking open in the hall made her jump. The sound of wet feet padding through her apartment reached her straining ears. She felt a flash of irritation that he hadn't dried his feet first. The irritation melded into surprise. _He's still here?_ She ignored how much this pleased her and pushed the feeling down. She felt like an idiot, so what if he was still there? It meant nothing. So they'd slept together? So what? People on television did it all the time and it meant nothing, certainly this was no different?

Rather than getting up and going to yell at him for moving around the apartment with wet feet she settled back into the bed. She closed her eyes and just listened to him move around in the other room. It was almost comforting. Somehow the apartment had seemed lonely to her lately, it had never before. She'd been okay by herself before; she didn't understand what had changed.

The clatter of pots and pans echoed into the apartment and a smile tugged at her lips. Was he cooking? She decided to wait and see.

At some point as she lay there listening to him putter around in her kitchen she drifted off to sleep again.

She woke with a start as her phone buzzed loudly from where it lay beside her head. She hadn't been sleeping long she didn't think, delicious smells wafted into her room from the kitchen. She grabbed blindly for her phone, pulling it towards her and opening it up to answer. She grimaced when she caught a glimpse of the time, clearly she wasn't going to school today.

"Hello?" she managed, her voice a little hoarse.

"_Maka thank god!"_ A panicked sounding Tsubaki filled her ear. _"We've all been so worried, what on earth happened last night? The last we saw was you drunk going to get some fresh air. Then Soul disappeared and neither of you were answering your phone and-"_

"Tsubaki," Maka interrupted. "I'm okay, we're both okay."

"_Did you have a sexy meeting in the alley with Soul?"_ Liz's voice barged in excitedly alerting Maka she was on speaker phone. The emphasis Liz gave the word 'sexy' made her blush.

"No!" Maka protested, her face heating up further. It wasn't completely a lie. They hadn't done anything sexy in the alley after all.

"_Awe come on Maka, girl, you gotta live a little." _Maka could hear the grin in Liz's voice.

"_Soul needs to get some anyways_," Black Star shouted in the background. "_He's not as big a man as I am, I'm sure he'd appreciate something easy here and there."_

"Black Star,"Maka snarled. "I am not easy!" She rejected her temptation to say Soul was as **big **a man as needed. That statement would have shot her claim of not being easy to pieces. She could vaguely make out the sound of Tsubaki reprimanding Black Star for being crude.

"_What did happen Maka?"_ Tsubaki asked curiously. Maka's throat closed up. She didn't know what to tell them. Telling them what happened over the phone seemed like the worst idea.

"_Maka guess what!" _Kid's voice chimed in, sounding thrilled. There was a clamour on the other end of the phone as Kid was cut off.

"_Shut up Kid, lets tell her in person!" _Liz snapped. Her curiosity was peaked but she decided it best not to pry. A short conversation that followed resulted in them deciding to get together tomorrow to discuss things as needed.

"_Oh, do you think you could call Soul and tell him-"_

"Maka?" Soul's voice called out from the hallway, cutting Tsubaki off. She heard a collective gasp from the group on the other end of the phone and her stomach dropped, clearly they had heard him. His footsteps drew nearer. "Maka are you awake yet? I hope you don't mind but I made breakfast and-" he appeared in the doorway. Wearing nothing but a towel around his waist, his white hair still damp, hanging around his face like a cloud. She cursed the feeling of arousal that came over her as her gaze raked his perfect, bare torso.

His voice trailed off at the sight of her, phone to her ear, the blanket just barely covering her own chest. A deer caught in the headlights sort of look on her face. He was holding some bandages and assorted medicinal items.

"_Ahhh, so this is why they didn't answer their phones." _Liz said sagely.

"_Why?"_ Tsubaki asked innocently. Patti cackled and burst into song as a response.

"_Because they were doin' it, doin' it, doin' it. D-d-d-doin' it-" _Maka could perfectly imagine the lewd dance Patti was doing to accompany her equally lewd song. Tsubaki made a soft noise of shock and Black Star laughed uproariously almost drowning everyone else out.

"_Soul was a perfect gentleman I'm sure." _Kid pointed out to a stunned Tsubaki in an attempt to comfort.

"_Oh I hope not," _Liz countered. _"Sometimes a girl just needs to be taken real rough and-"_

"Liz!" Maka shouted in horror, her face going scarlet. Soul's face stretched into a smug grin. "I-I," she stammered. "I have to go," with that she hung up the phone. Their friend's laughter was cut off promptly.

Soul leaned against the door frame, well sculpted arms folded across his broad chest. The smug grin still plastered on his face.

"Well…anyway," he brushed off the last few embarrassing minutes easily. "I made breakfast." She nodded absently. "But first…lets take care of that wound of yours." He moved toward her and she tied the blanket around her to stop it from slipping. He sat down, the bed creaking under the added weight. She held still as he opened up the first aid kit she kept under the bathroom sink. She resisted telling him off for going through her things since it was really a sweet gesture in the end.

He dabbed gently along the wound as he cleaned it. She took a moment to watch him as he focused on the task at hand. His strong, pronounced jaw was tight; his ruby eyes were bright and alert as he concentrated. He was handsome she thought absently. She felt a sudden stabbing need to trace his jaw with his fingertips. She paused. No, thoughts like that were not allowed. The previous night was a one time thing, she'd let down her emotional walls and allowed him to pass through so she could treat herself to one night of pleasure. Yes that was it. How could it have meant anything? And surely he didn't have the same bizarre desire she did to get close again.

She winced as his gentle dabbing rubbed her raw skin the wrong way. "Sorry," he murmured. "I'm trying to be as gentle as I can." She nodded, still staring at him, though it appeared he hadn't noticed; his eyes hadn't moved from her wound as he worked. "Are you enjoying the view?" She felt her cheeks burn in embarrassment. It wasn't fair how he did that. He hadn't even looked at her and yet he somehow had known she'd been watching him. She stared down at her hands in her lap, aggravated at being caught. He just smirked knowingly and she could feel his eyes on her now.

A few moments later he pulled his hands away from her face after finishing his tending to her. "Well, that should be good. I think its better if we leave it uncovered, let it breathe." She nodded. "Also, its kind of in an awkward place to bandage up anyways."

"What about you? Do you have any cuts or-or scrapes or anything?" she asked. He shook his head.

"My backs a little bruised and sore but its nothing a good massage won't fix," he rolled his shoulders, clearly hinting she should be the one to do it. She huffed and turned her chin up at him. He chuckled, patted her cheek and stood. "Breakfast is ready."

He then turned to leave. When she didn't immediately follow he turned and cocked his head at her. "Are you coming? I made the damn thing I'm not serving you in bed too you know," he told her coolly. Temper getting the better of her; Maka grabbed the nearest heavy item to her, which happened to be a hard cover book she'd been reading, then threw it at him. He ducked it with a smirk, but his towel slipped from the athletic motion.

Stark naked in the hallway he just smiled at her. He put his foot down on the book and slid it across the hardwood floor and back into her room. _No shame. _She thought aghast; though was unable to avoid giving him an appreciative once over before ducking her head her cheeks turning pink.

He picked up the towel.

"What?" he asked her teasingly. "You saw me naked last night? What's the difference now?" Her head snapped up to yell at him and she was surprised to find he was standing right in front of her. Still naked. As naked as she was under the sheet. "Well, what's so different now?" She set her jaw.

"It just is." She told him stubbornly. Arms on either side of her on the bed he leaned in so close their faces were nearly touching. His heated breath on her cheek.

"Is it?" he whispered.

Apparently they were no longer able to stand close to each other without touching one another. Their close proximity somehow evolved into another tumble in the sheets. Though perhaps it wasn't because they had stood close to one another, Maka hypothesized, but because they had both been _nude _while standing close to one another. She mentally chastised herself for allowing this to happen a second time, her libido had clearly gotten the better of her.

* * *

><p>Breathless and sated awhile later, she lay against him under the blankets. "Breakfast is cold by now," she mumbled against his chest. He shivered as her breath feathered across his flesh, lips close enough to touch. His chest rumbled with laughter under her ear.<p>

"Well…I've satisfied a certain type of hunger…" he tugged on a lock of her hair fondly.

Maka's stomach clenched and she sat up abruptly. What had been on her mind since she'd woke up that morning was suddenly too much to bare.

"I…don't know what this is." He propped himself up on his elbows and gave her a serious look. His eyes boring into her as they always did. When it was clear he wasn't going to speak, only stare at her, she continued. "I mean…this isn't normal…I hardly know anything about you…sleeping with someone after four days is just not…normal-I don't know what came over me…this is wrong and my head's all confused-"

"Maka." Soul interrupted in a low voice. "Relax. Its not like we got married or anything. You were upset, you went through something difficult. You took comfort in what you could." She frowned.

"You're not upset that we're not a couple because of…this?" She asked softly. He shook his head.

"No." He hesitated which was a little surprising to her. He seemed to always know what to say, never hesitated, recklessly throwing himself forward. "I would like to try getting to know one another though. Maka…" the way he said her name was like a caress. He took her hands in his, running his thumb over her wrist gently. "There doesn't have to be any conditions or anything. Just…lets try?"

Her stomach flip flopped inside her. She didn't understand how they could date normally when they'd slept together twice now. Well…more than twice but the multiple times they coupled together during night counted as only once in her head. She supposed most people who started dating didn't know everything about one another. Their lunch together could be considered a first date maybe…or if she really wanted to she could consider that time they met up in the coffee shop and he gave her a ride to work the first.

She frowned, looking at him carefully. His expression was open and earnest. He didn't look like he was being sneaky or conniving. Just like he wanted her to agree to try.

"Okay…" she whispered. His face spread into a grin.

"Alright then. I'm gonna take you on a date." Her eyebrows rose.

"I guess." She conceded. He pushed her over playfully and climbed out of the bed.

"Lets go eat. I'm starved." She clutched the blanket to her and stood while rolling her eyes. He pulled on his boxers and then pulled on his pants, remaining shirtless. As he did up his button he cocked his head at her. She turned up her nose at him haughtily.

"I'm not getting dressed until you turn around or close your eyes or something," she sniped. He chuckled deeply and put a hand on his hip.

"I've already seen it all Maka!" She narrowed her eyes at him.

"I don't care." She told him stubbornly. "Now go." He gave her a crooked smile, running a hand through his hair.

"No show? No strip tease?" He taunted.

"No!" She shouted, shoving him out the door and slamming it behind him; his laughter still reached her through the heavy wood. As she dressed she found to her alarm she was smiling like an idiot. Music started in the kitchen and she realized he'd found her stereo. Before exiting the room to go eat she forced the smile from her face with great effort. She would try. But he didn't have to know she was happy about it, he would only rub it in her face after all.

* * *

><p>Soul pulled up in Black Star's car outside Maka's apartment. It was just before noon the following day. He'd asked Black Star to borrow his car. For someone with as much money as Black Star he owned a ridiculous car. A crappy Pontiac Bonneville that Black Star was obsessed with. He called her 'Sasha' and would croon over her all the time. He said Sasha was a man's car and only a 'big guy like himself' could ever drive her properly.<p>

He flipped open his phone and tapped out a message.

**Soul: Come outside. **He waited a few moments, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel to the beat of the music he was playing. His phone vibrated in his pocket.

**Maka: Why? **He grimaced, of course she would be difficult. _Can't even follow simple directions_ he thought in annoyance.

**Soul: bcuz im out here. Come outside. **He frowned, the next message came quickly.

**Maka: Why can't you come upstairs? The doors unlocked. I'm doing homework. **He keyed in his response to her message his irritation.

**Soul: Maka L just come outside! **He leaned on the steering wheel in exasperation. Her answer was delayed, he hoped she was coming outside.

Out of the corner of his eye he spotted her. Though she hadn't done exactly what he wanted, she was standing on the balcony. He blew out a breath impatiently, climbing out of the car with a hand on the door.

"What are you doing?" he called out to her.

"You said come outside!" she called back. She was hanging over the balcony, wearing a pair of cut offs and a loose, off the shoulder blue and white striped shirt. Her hair was pulled back in pigtails as usual, the sun shining behind her.

"I _meant_ down here outside." He could see her irritated expression even from down on the ground.

"Then you should have _said_ that." She yelled down at him. He threw his hands up in the air.

"Maka, _please." _He managed to get out through grit teeth. She let out a noise of disgust and disappeared inside again. He hadn't realized being spontaneously adorable would be like pulling teeth with her.

A few minutes later she appeared at the front door to the building. She pushed it open and approached him with an unhappy expression.

"What's with the car?" she asked. He gave her a crooked smile.

"Come for a drive with me." He gestured to the car.

"But I have homework-" she started to whine.

"Maka. For gods sake just get in the car." She made a face at him and stuck her tongue out. Despite this, she got in the car.

* * *

><p>The day was gorgeous and he could tell she loved it. The windows were rolled down and the sun roof was open, the delightfully cool wind a perfect combination with the heat. She was practically hanging out the window, the wind whipping at her hair. It had torn a few golden strands from her pigtails and they wisped around her face.<p>

She'd been grumpy when they'd first started driving. Complaining she had homework she could be doing, whining for Soul to just tell her where they were going. He'd flicked on the radio in an attempt to tune her out, she'd realized this when he did it and had given him and angry stare before folding her arms across her chest and glaring out the window. Then a song came on the radio she liked and they had left city limits. Then he'd opened up the sun roof and slowly she'd relaxed, forgetting she was angry with him and enjoying the drive.

Gold and green fields rushed past as the car hurtled down the highway. He didn't think the day could have been more perfect for his plan. Maka was humming contently along to the song playing. He'd popped in a mixed tape and she seemed pleased with the majority of it so far. He turned down a side road off of the highway and she glanced at him with a dubious expression though didn't say anything, clearly she'd given up on complaining about their random trip.

Not long after turning off on a side road Soul parked the car along the empty dirt road. He removed the keys from the ignition and gave her a look out of the corner of his eye.

"Shall we?" She looked like she was trying to force herself to be disinterested but he could see the curiosity shining behind her feigned boredom. They clambered out of the car.

Maka stretched her arms above her head, stiff from being in the car all that time no doubt. Soul couldn't resist poking her bellybutton as her shirt hiked up when she stretched. She let out a displeased, involuntary, squeal and glowered at him. He chuckled throatily as he moved around the car to the trunk.

He popped it open, reaching inside and pulling out a wicker basket and guitar case.

They had parked alongside the road, a steep hill dropping off alongside it, leading down into a field full of tall grass and heather at its foot. Maka stood on the precipice, hands on her hips, gazing down at the field spread before her. The grass moved like water, rolling with the wind like an ocean. The sky met the land on the horizon in a melding of colours; a tree in the distance growing where the land rose. He nudged her and she turned to look at him with wide eyes. She took the guitar case from him, realizing it was her acoustic.

"What-?" she trailed off unsure. He grinned.

"We're going to write a song." He told her simply, gesturing to the breathtaking view before them. "What better place for inspiration?" Her lip quirked in a half smile. He held up the basket in his arms. "Also, lunch." he told her cheerfully.

"You made this?" she asked doubtfully. He pretended to take offense.

"What, I can't make a delicious lunch?" She grimaced in response.

"After that breakfast yesterday…" she trailed of suggestively. He made a sound of mock hurt.

"Actually, Tsubaki made lunch…I mentioned to her what we were doing and she insisted." She bumped him with her hip.

"Oh well, that changes everything. Tsubaki's an excellent cook." With that she slung her guitar case over her shoulder and was off down the hill at a run. "Bet I can beat you to the tree!" she called over her shoulder. Her unexpected challenge took him off guard. He started after her basket in his arms still.

"Well if your going to cheat like that obviously!" She laughed loudly.

"I _never _cheat."

Their race quickly unravelled, the tree was quite a way away. Soul smiled broadly as Maka's run slowed, she trailed her hands along the tall grass that grew as high as her waist. She started humming, lazily moving through the field, her face turned to the sky. It was as if he could see the music writing itself in her head, the world seemed to dissolve around her as she lost focus on most of what was around her.

The tree was a massive oak with a trunk thick enough for four people to wrap their arms around. Its branches were twisted and gnarled, drooping over and shading the hill. The leaves were green and bright, rustling in the breeze. Maka appeared completely enthralled by it. She put down her guitar and flopped into the grass. Her shoes were off faster than Soul could blink and she sat with her bare feet in the lush grass that carpeted the little hill. Soul slipped down to sit with her, his back against the tree.

* * *

><p>Time passed in a surreal fashion. The afternoon seemed to stretch on for a millennium; though in the best sort of way, as though they had a limitless amount of time. Tsubaki's lunch was delicious and like the time it seemed to go on forever.<p>

Maka sat at the trunk playing through different chords experimentally as Soul climbed the tree, pointing out what he believed was helpful advice for her composing. Generally she took it well though every now and again she would snap for him to stop fooling around, or to shut up if he really wanted to help her. Contradictory really, but every now and again he had a moment where knew when to keep his mouth shut; this being one of them.

He perched on one of the branches above her in a crouch. The sunlight through the tree's boughs cast leaf-shaped patterns over her skin. Her face was turned down in concentration as she played thoughtfully, her pigtails slipping over her shoulders and dangling along the side of her face as she played. She cursed under her breath and stopped for a moment, clearly not having found what she wanted. She leaned back against the trunk and gazed up at him, the leaf-shaped shadows playing across her face, the green of the leaves reflecting in her own green eyes.

"Maka," he said, deciding since she had stopped playing for the moment that it was safe to talk. "I believe there is an apple in that basket beside you." She knew what he was asking and so her hand slipped into the basket, fishing out and apple and tossing it up into the air where he caught it.

He laid out along the thick branch he was roosted upon, his arms behind his head as he ate the apple. He mentally congratulated himself at how excellent this idea of his had been. He thought back on how delighted Tsubaki had been when she'd found out. He'd gone to Black Star's to pick up Maka's guitar and Tsubaki had made him wait while she made them lunch. He'd figured it the perfect plan since it would kill two birds with one stone. He got to spend more time alone with Maka and Black Star would have his new song he was so adamant about getting. Soul had received a multitude of text messages from their energetic manager, hounding him about coming up with something new. He was sure if he and Maka combined their text messages from Black Star together they would have plethora. All only from three days.

A tune Maka was playing below him floated through his thoughts. It was as though something in his mind clicked. He rolled over onto his stomach, nearly falling off the branch. He kept his balance though, after all what kind of cool guy fell out of a tree?

"Maka," he said a little urgently. "Do that again." She turned her face up to look at him, a curious look. Her fingers moved across the strings without looking as she replayed the last succession of notes. Soul's mind whirred, a jumble of different instruments playing along in his head, he sorted through them carefully. "Again," he demanded. She played again. Her head snapped up again to look at him eyes wide. "Again," he chanted.

* * *

><p>It was the strangest thing, something clicked in Maka's mind shortly after Soul's did it seemed. She could hear the other's playing with her, could imagine their parts so clearly. The rest of the song flowed out of her through her fingertips. Words drifted through, mingling along with what she played. It was rough but she was sure it was a song. Could feel it.<p>

She hesitated as Soul grinned down at her. "Maka that's it, can you hear it? It'll need a little work but its definitely a song." He seemed to sense her hesitation and cocked his head at her.

"It's so…different…" she said lamely. Soul sat up and swung down off the branch.

"Different is good." He said simply. She frowned and looked up at him, the sun behind his head making him into nothing more than a dark silhouette lined in gold. Something inside her resisted the change; told her to stick with what she had. Something new was trouble. What was a familiar; that was safe. He bent down, his hands held out for her. "Come on, get up."

She released her hold on the guitar and let him help her up. "Play it again," he demanded. She did. "Don't you hear it Maka?" He put his hands on her shoulders. "Just close your eyes, picture the others holding their instruments and play. Imagine how they sound along with you." She did as he told her and played.

"Something new isn't a bad thing Maka." His voice told her, her eyes still closed so she couldn't see him. And she couldn't help but think. Maybe he was right.

* * *

><p>The sky was a pristine sort of blue you didn't get anywhere but outside the city. Maka lay on her back in the tall grass, the wind toying with the heather that grew up wildly all around her. Her knee's were bent and crossed. Streaks of color were starting to weave their way through the clouds and blue, the sun would start to go down soon. Soul laid somewhere nearby too. The two of them had ended up collapsing into the grass, hidden from each others sight. For the remainder of the afternoon they talked about a number of things. Maka was pleased to learn more about him. His favorite color, food, musician's he admired; she discovered he had a brother who also played music. He didn't seem particularly keen to talk about him at the moment though. It wasn't much, but it was a start. She knew a little more about him.<p>

She sat up, finding Soul also sitting up and nearby watching.

"What are you staring at creep?" she asked. He shrugged.

"You." She made a face at him but crawled a little closer to where he sat in the grass, the strands of grass weaved in front of her eyes, her vision of Soul broken up by the pieces.

"We should go soon, the others want to meet up for dinner and discuss." He frowned and suddenly reached out, brushing the back of his hand across her bruised cheek.

She jerked away, everything in her screaming that she was letting him get to close. That this was all wrong. She should push him away. Say something mean to make him leave, make him hate her. She _wanted _him to hate her. It would be so much easier. She had made so many foolish mistakes with this boy and she didn't understand why, didn't understand what had changed. Yesterday, everything yesterday had gone so wrong, spun out of her control. Then when she'd finally gained some control again she'd made even more of a mess of things and gone and slept with him.

She was a liability to him, and who wanted to spend all their time worrying for the sake of their idiot friend and also…a small part of her feared being hurt again. She'd let Chris get close and look what had happened with him. She only blamed herself though, she'd allowed this to happen. Allowed Soul to get to close, had drawn him near. He was like the sun and she was a flower, unable to resist reaching up towards it for the warmth. When he was around she had these moments where she forgot. Forgot to be distant, forgot to remind herself she was better off alone.

He stood, offering her his hand again. Her thoughts muddled, she ignored his hand and stood by herself. They packed up the remainder of their lunch and Maka put her guitar back in its case as they hiked back towards the car through the heather.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: It is late...I am tired...but I finished this damn chapter like I wanted to! Time for bed XD *dies***

**Okay so that was over dramatic...but anyway...as always review's will earn you my love; also they save you from being haunted by my tired ghost. Though I'm not sure why a ghost would be tired. Anyways...if you're still reading this bizarre, tired ramble you are a champ...  
><strong>


	7. Yeats and Blake

**Hello! Just wanted to say how much I appreciate the support! Every review is appreciated, I apologize if I don't have time to respond to them but I always read them!**

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN SOUL EATER. Nor do I own the poem 'Love's Secret' that is quoted later in the chapter.**

* * *

><p><em>Seven: Yeats and Blake<em>

"Maka! What happened to you?" Tsubaki asked, referring to Maka's bruised and cut cheek. Her raven-haired friend gave her a worried look. Maka gave her a sad smile in return, her stomach flopped inside her at the impending explanation. Soul stood by with, as per usual, his hands in his pockets.

"I…I'll explain soon, everyone is going to want to hear it so I might as well tell everyone at once." Tsubaki nodded and the two girl's linked arms and made their way into the restaurant, Soul trailing behind.

Everyone was seated at two tables pushed together. They had waited for everyone to arrive before ordering dinner, they had however, ordered drinks. It was a Saturday night after all. Patti had drawn the short straw and ended up designated driver so she had ordered a glass of milk; currently she was blowing bubbles in it with a straw she'd insisted the waiter bring her. Tsubaki maneuvered around the table and flopped into a seat next to Black Star. Their manager was well into his cups, several empty bottles around him, his face beet red as he threw his arm around Tsubaki's shoulder, murmuring something her ear; she blushed prettily in response.

Maka slid into a spot next to Liz who sat across from Kid, Soul sat down across from her.

"Maka! Are you alright?" Liz hugged her tightly around the neck and Maka gasped a little so Liz let her go. Kid took a sip of his wine and glanced at her over the rim of his glass.

"How did you get hurt?" he asked. Liz glowered at Soul alarmingly, his red eyes widened, unsure what to make of her sudden and unexpected hostility.

"Did you get too rough with her!" she accused. Soul spit out the water he'd just drank.

"Wh-what!" He looked outraged. "Never!

"No!" Maka yelped. "No Liz…nothing like that…Soul would never…" how easily she'd said that surprised her. She was completely certain he would never ever hurt her.

She sighed and looked down at her lap. She could feel the tables attention on her, waiting for an explanation. Her heart raced. Would they be angry with her for not telling them? She hadn't lied per say…though omitting the information was just as bad.

Something nudged her under the table. Her eyes lifted from her lap. Soul sat across from her and when her eyes lifted they met his. He gave her an encouraging look and nodded for her to speak. She swallowed, not understanding how he had managed to comfort her with a look and a nod.

"I…Chris did it." She whispered, her eyes falling down to her lap again, afraid to look up at them. To see their reactions. The story poured out of her then. Chris leaving messages on her answering machine, breaking into her apartment. The confrontation in the alley. "I should have told you all. I'm sorry. I just, I don't want any of you to get hurt on my account."

"Well that's stupid." Her head snapped up, eyes shining with unshed tears. Black Star, who had only moments before looked possibly drunk enough to pass out on the floor somewhere, was looking at her intently. "You don't get to decide what we do on your account." Tsubaki sighed and reached out to Maka across the table.

"What Black Star means is. We're your friends. We would do anything for you Maka." Liz leaned against her shoulder, Patti on the other side of her laughed and tugged her hair. "Silly."

Kid nodded. "You don't have to face it alone. We're here for you." Black Star leaned back in his chair, slinging his arm around Tsubaki's shoulder possessively as he did. She squeaked a little as she was forced to lean back too.

"Feh, I dunno what you're so worried about anyways. Its not like that scrawny bastard could hurt me anyways."

A laugh bubbled up inside her. Her friends started speaking around her, comforting words. Liz being closest to her, cooed over her injured cheek, she watched as Black Star and Tsubaki flirted like mad. She made suggestive eyes at Tsubaki over the table who blushed and suppressed a smile as she continued talking to Black Star. Kid started freaking out about the empty bottles Black Star had left scattered on the table, telling him to place them symmetrically. Before Kid could have an aneurism Patti pulled one of her more frightening moments to scare him into behaving.

As her eyes drifted around the table she met Soul's again, he gave her a crooked smile and she felt him nudge her under the table again. She wanted to laugh out loud. Footsies? How old were they now? Twelve? She cocked an eyebrow at him and he gave her another crooked smile with a sideways glance, talking to Kid about some band his Father had just signed.

Dinner was delicious. It was chaotic and loud as things usually were when they were all together but Maka was happy. She wouldn't have it any other way.

Kid stood up, tapping his wine glass to get their attention. Patti started tapping on her glass too and like a wave everyone else started to as well, a clamour of glasses tinkling. Kid sighed and stopped, waiting for them all to settle down. Once the tinkling had stopped Kid took a breath, his eyes shining excitedly.

"I have an announcement!" He told them. Everyone watched him attentively, she could feel the coiled excitement in Liz too beside her. She assumed Kid had told her the news before everyone else. "So…as you all know, I taped the show Thursday night." They nodded in unison, Maka stopped hastily when she realized what they were doing. _Creepy._ She thought absently.

"Well…" Kid said with a grin. "I showed it to my Father and he loved it! He thinks Soul is the perfect fit for the group and was the missing piece. He wants to set a meeting with to discuss being signed!"

The table erupted into cheers and laughter, everyone grabbing and hugging whoever was closest to them. Maka's stomach churned, thrilled at what Kid said but terrified too. Being signed was a big deal, things would become a lot more serious. She was already struggling to manage school and the band as it was.

"When?" She asked him as everyone settled down.

"Well he'd like to at least talk to you all by Friday. He has a business trip overseas and will be gone for quite awhile." _Friday._ Maka thought, trying to keep from frowning. _So soon. _

* * *

><p>Soul watched Maka unlock the door to her apartment. She had protested him coming with her vehemently but he hadn't listened. After hearing that Chris had broken into her apartment the others had insisted as well. They'd each conveniently had excuses not to go themselves, shoving Soul towards her as they clambered into the car for Patti to drive them home.<p>

He followed her into the apartment as she flicked on the light. She tossed her keys into the key bowl set on the shelf he'd set _her _on the last time he'd entered her apartment. He felt his cheeks heat at the memory, a pang inside him longing for another moment like that. He ignored it, knowing it wasn't going to happen again any time soon. He was content to be near her anyways.

"Did you want coffee?" she asked. He shook his head, leaning against the wall as she puttered around her kitchen making herself some tea. She turned around to face him once she had made her tea. "So how is this going to work?" She asked with a doubtful but amused look. "Are you going to check my apartment for monsters? Maybe peek under the bed? In the closet?" He frowned.

"It's not funny Maka, if Chris broke into your apartment once he can do it again. What if next time you're home when he does it?" She moved out of the kitchen and into the living room, he trailed behind her.

She set her tea cup down on the coffee table and pulled her pigtails out, letting her hair fall down around her shoulders. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair, combing it out with her fingers idly. He watched her quietly, waiting for her to stop stalling and respond to what he'd said. "I know." She said finally, disappearing into her room.

He sat on the couch and took the liberty of turning on her television, not sure what she was doing but not planning on leaving her alone and at risk. He heard her footsteps in the small hallway and a door opened and shut. The shower started and he settled in to watch a re-run of _'Friends'_.

A little while later, a blanket and another soft bulky item fell on his head; cutting off his vision of Rachel screaming when she thought Ross fell down the stairs, not realizing it was a dummy.

He pulled the blanket off his head, finding the other soft item was a pillow. He smoothed down his static-y hair. Maka was standing nearby in a pair of blue polka dotted flannel sleep-shorts and a clearly well worn band t-shirt. 'Blink-182' was scrawled across her chest. Her hands were on her hips.

"If you're staying; you're sleeping on the couch," she told him, her tone made it clear this was not up for debate.

"Fine by me, just so long as you're not alone in here if someone breaks in." He tossed the pillow on one end of the couch and stood. He pulled off his shirt and began unbuckling his belt. Maka squeaked and turned away, covering her eyes too. Perhaps a bit of overkill.

"What are you doing?" she yelled. He paused, his pants undone.

"Well I'm not gonna sleep in my jeans. That would be mega uncomfortable." She groaned, her back still to him. Her t-shirt had hiked up a bit revealing a pair of dimples in her back just before the curve of her backside. He took a moment to admire her.

"Can't you wait until I leave the room?" she grumbled.

"Well I didn't think it mattered." He told her nonchalantly, in truth he mostly liked how easy it was for him to make her squirm.

Maka muttered something darkly but he didn't quite catch what she said. She shuffled awkwardly around keeping her back to him still until she was out of the room. He sighed and kicked off his jeans, climbing onto the couch and pulling the blanket over him. He turned the tv off and laid down.

"Goodnight Soul…" her voice came softly from the hallway. He smiled to himself.

"G'night Maka." He heard her door close gently and he closed his eyes to sleep.

* * *

><p>The day was bright and warm. Maka sat under one of the brightly colored umbrella's of her favorite ice cream place. Tsubaki sat across from her eating a caramel sundae. It was Thursday, the week had gone by pretty quick and Maka was feeling strained because of it. She had an exam coming up on Friday which happened to be the same day they were going to meet Kid's Dad. She had her books spread out across the table and was studying while visiting with Tsubaki. Maka leaned in and took a sip from her strawberry milkshake.<p>

"How are things going with Soul?" Tsubaki asked curiously. Maka scrunched up her nose.

"He's been at my apartment every night this week. When I get home he's already there. He'll just wait outside the door if I'm not home when he shows up." Tsubaki smiled faintly.

"He's very nice isn't he."

"Nice?" Maka spluttered. "He won't leave me alone!"

"Because he cares, frankly, we're all a little relieved about the situation. Knowing he's with you lets us all relax a bit when you're not in sight. Liz says she's certain he likes you." Maka flushed a little and glanced down at her books. Tsubaki's small smile widened. "Do you like him too?" Maka's blush darkened and Tsubaki looked delighted. "You do don't you?"

"No I-…he's just-sometimes I…I don't know." She cursed in frustration at her inability to give her friend a coherent response. _Very convincing Maka._ She groaned mentally.

Truthfully she had no idea how she felt about him. One minute he was driving her crazy, enraging her to the point of violence; the next he said something serious and helpful, alleviating her of her concerns or was sweet and gentle making her heart hammer and her stomach twist into knots. She'd hardly known him very long at all but it felt so natural when he was around; like he'd always been there.

"How are things going with you and Black Star?" Maka asked, changing the subject not so smoothly.

"They're…going…" she said shyly. Maka fiddled with her pencil in her hand, waiting expectantly for her to continue. "Well, when that bouncer last Thursday asked me for a drink I said yes. I know it was awful of me but I didn't really want to have a drink with the bouncer…" she looked guilty. Maka grinned.

"You just wanted to make Black Star jealous?" Tsubaki nodded and she stared at her feet in shame.

"It was just so awful of me. I felt terrible."

"It's not that bad really." Maka told her comfortingly. "Besides, it seemed to work, Black Star looked pissed." Tsubaki lifted her head and smiled weakly.

"He did didn't he?" Maka nodded knowingly.

"He was distraught. Has he said anything?" Tsubaki sighed and shook her head, taking a bite of her ice cream.

"He's been a lot more um-touchy?" she tried, not sure how else to describe it. Maka grinned.

"Yes, I noticed that. Are you going to tell him how you feel?" Her friends indigo eyes widened and she shook her head.

"Oh no…I couldn't. What if he doesn't feel the same way?"

"He does." A rough voice interjected. Maka started as Soul dropped into a chair between them suddenly. She hadn't even notice him approaching. Soul picked up Maka's milkshake and took a sip, she glared at him and snatched for it but he held it out of her reach. "He likes you Tsubaki. He's just too much of a fool to say anything," he told the bass player as Maka practically climbed across his lap to steal her milkshake back. He chuckled and held her back. Losing her temper she snatched up one of her schoolbooks and whacked him across the head. "Ow, damn it, sorry!" He put her milkshake down, holding his aching head. "You didn't have to hit me."

Completely calm now, Maka sat back with her milkshake in hand a triumphant expression on her face as she sucked back the rest of it. Tsubaki looked amused but didn't say anything. The waitress came by and Soul ordered another milkshake, she narrowed her eyes at him and he gave her a smug look. "What? Yours was good, I want one of my own." He winked.

Maka leaned her elbow on the table, resting her chin in her hand. "Honestly, I came here to get away from you. I wanted to study," she told him blankly. He pretended to look hurt.

"Oh don't be like that, you know you like it when I'm around." He plucked one of the books off the table, peering at it with his nose wrinkled. "What are you reading?" He frowned. "Wuthering Heights?" She sighed and took it from him, placing it on the table. He picked up another and made a face. "Poetry?" She took that one from him too. "How do you not die of boredom?"

She hugged the book to her chest defensively. "I _like _this stuff," she told him sharply. "Yeats is one of my favorites." Soul gave her a blank look.

"Sorry to interrupt. Did you say Yeats is your favorite?"

* * *

><p>All three sets of eyes at the table turned in surprise. Just past the small iron fence that blocked the patio off from the street was a boy. Well not really a boy he looked to be about the same age as Soul most likely. His skin was a caramel color and his dark hair fell in dreads with assorted colored beads threaded through it. He leaned on the fence near Maka. She played with the end of her pigtail nervously, looking at him up through her lashed bashfully.<p>

"I said he was _one _of my favorites." She corrected. The intruder smiled easily, his teeth a brilliant white, his smile perfect. Soul frowned. This guy had to be a joke. He looked like some hippie, stoner.

"You have excellent taste," he told her. She blushed a little and Soul wanted to gag, that could hardly be considered a compliment enough to blush at. "May I ask who your favorite is?"

"Blake." The interrupter leaned in closer.

"Never seek to tell thy love, Love that never told can be; For the gentle wind doth move Silently, invisibly. I told my love, I told my love, I told her all my heart, Trembling, cold, in ghastly fears." The dread haired boy quoted. Maka smiled shyly.

"You left out a verse," she told him. Soul wanted to laugh, it was just like her to correct her admirer's attempts at coming onto her. The dirty hippie's brown eyes twinkled disgustingly. Soul wanted to retch at the look he was giving her. The intruder shrugged.

"It doesn't suit my purpose." He flashed her a smile. "May I ask your name angel?"

"Maka." She told him. Soul cringed at how easily she gave it to him. "You are?"

Soul stopped listening. The whole exchange was making him sick. What gave this dirty hippie jerk the right to walk up to Maka and dazzle her like this? Soul's hand clenched into a fist under the table. He felt a weight on his shoulder, his eyes slid to the side. Tsubaki had placed a hand on him comfortingly, she smiled softly, her expression conveying one of sympathy. He felt a stab of longing to know all about the poetry and books and other junk Maka seemed to love. Would she be so dazzled if he started quoting things at her?

He stood abruptly. The girls looked at him in surprise. "I gotta go." He made a point of not looking at the dirty hippie who was leaned in too close to Maka for his liking. "I'll see you at home tonight." He told her simply. She frowned, his tone had clear implications. The dirty hippie cocked his head curiously, obviously sensing the implications Soul had made. In a moment of jealousy, he did a foolish, un-cool thing before he turned to leave; he swooped down and pecked Maka on the cheek. Her skin was soft under his lips and she smelled like apples.

Before she had time to react and pummel him into the ground he left.

* * *

><p>Maka touched her cheek, bewildered. Had Soul kissed her goodbye? He'd been as causal about it as he was about everything else. The cute boy who she'd been talking to about poetry looked closed off. He backed up a bit.<p>

She turned to him in a daze, vaguely making out the sound of Tsubaki offering him to sit down with them. The boy politely declined and said he had to go. He had been about to give Maka his number (she'd already written down her own for him) when Soul had kissed her. After Soul's unexpected public display this boy was not going to give her his number anymore. She also suspected she would not be getting a call from him. It didn't bother her as much as she'd thought it would.

It wasn't even that he'd kissed her that had surprised her. What surprised her was that he had done it so publicly, so casually. As if they were a couple. She felt an awkward mix of irritation and pleasure at this. They hadn't decided they were together so it was strange that he'd been so bold.

The boy left. Tsubaki had finished her ice cream and Maka realized the milkshake Soul had ordered had been for her. He'd left money on the table for it before he'd left.

"So…what was that?" Her dark-haired friend asked curiously. Maka drank some of the milkshake.

"I honestly don't know. I…I'll have to mention it to him when I get home."

"I'll mention it to Liz," Tsubaki said decidedly, "she always seems to know about these sorts of things."

* * *

><p>They sat across from one another at Maka's kitchen table. Music played on the stereo in the background, something Soul had brought over for her, she hadn't been sure of the band at first but was quickly growing fond of them. He had shown up at the apartment around the same time as she did. She had a moment where she thought she should just give him a key but had mentally kicked herself for it. She wasn't supposed to be encouraging him to stay.<p>

Even so, she'd made dinner for the both of them and he'd helped. Or what he liked to think was helping anyways, mostly it involved him getting in the way and her telling him he was doing things wrong. She waited until they had finished dinner to talk to him about earlier.

"So…" she said quietly. He looked up at her with a blank look in his crimson eyes. "Um…what was that about earlier?" He was helping her do the dishes, drying as she washed. She handed him a plate. He had a strange, pained expression on his face as he swiped a dry rag over the plate she'd handed him.

"I'm sorry about that…" he muttered. "That wasn't cool of me." Her brow puckered as she scrubbed a bowl out, she didn't speak and he took it as meaning for him to go on. "I shouldn't have done that. I just…didn't like that dirty hippie guy. He was coming onto you and it bothered me." She passed him the bowl without taking her eyes off the soapy water in the sink.

"You were jealous?" He didn't say anything but she figured he'd nodded.

"It was stupid and wrong. I shouldn't have done that. If you liked him it wasn't my place to interfere, we're not together I don't have any part in your decision about going out with someone. You've had bad experiences with jealous guys…" he didn't specify though she knew he meant Chris. "I didn't mean to be…that way…"

Maka watched the suds swirl about in the sink. He was such an _idiot. _What he'd done, his small act of jealousy was _nothing. _It had been sweet and subtle. Subtlety was not something Chris had ever had. The guilt he felt over it annoyed her but also left a warm feeling in her stomach. She thought back to the warm feel of his lips brushing against her cheek.

She picked up a handle of white, foamy, bubbles. He was staring out her kitchen window, what he was looking at she couldn't say. The kitchen window didn't have the loveliest of views. It faced the brick wall of another building, looking down into the back alley. "Soul."

He turned to face her and she promptly wiped the bubbles on his head, a pile of suds in his hair. She couldn't stop the beaming smile that spread across her face. He stood still for a moment, completely shocked by her random bubble attack, then he sprang into action. She squealed and tried to dance out of his grasp but he caught her around the waist, hauling her back towards the sink. He held her there as he scooped out bubbles himself, smearing them on her head and face.

She laughed and twisted away from him, he gave chase as she expected. They dashed around the kitchen table and she pushed a chair in his way to slow him down. She came full circle back to the sink, snatching up the faucet and yanking the hose out of its place. She pointed it at him and he froze. He held up his hands defensively and she gave him a devilish grin. "Now Maka," he said tentatively. A puff of suds was stuck to her cheek. "Now Soul," she mimicked, and pulled the trigger.

The water sprayed out of the hose and drenched him. She almost went into hysterics as he shouted in dismay, trying to shield himself with his hands. He plowed forward though allowing himself to get drenched in order to get close enough to stop her.

They wrestled over control of the hose, Soul managed to twist it so it pointed at her and squeezed the handle so it sprayed her in the chest and face. She shrieked and he snickered as they effectively managed to soak one another.

Panting and thoroughly doused a little while later the two of them sat on the slippery floor, their backs leaned up against cupboards. She gave him a sideways glance. "I wasn't going to call him you know."

"Oh yeah?" he asked. She smiled wryly.

"I don't know what I was doing. He wasn't my type." Soul didn't say anything but his lip quirked with a smile. They sat in comfortable silence for awhile longer. "I'm-nervous about the meeting tomorrow." She told him. He nodded.

"Makes sense, it's a big deal."

"I-just…I'm having trouble balancing school and the band as it is. If we sign with a label the band is going to take up even more time. I've invested so much into school as it is I can't just drop it but I don't know if I can do it." He leaned against her suddenly.

"You don't have to do anything Maka. Everyone will understand if you can't do it. But keep in mind we're all more than willing to help you out with anything. Sure it'll be hard to balance but it's the opportunity of a lifetime. I think maybe you feel the same way about music as I do. And I know to me…the opportunity to get paid for doing what I love-well, get paid enough that I don't need another job anyways, that's a dream come true." He stood and offered her his hand. She took it and allowed him to help her to stand. He smiled crookedly at her. "You should get ready for bed, you've got a test in the morning."

She went and dried herself off and threw on pajamas, she would have a shower in the morning. After she was dressed and dry she packed her bag for the morning and set out what she would wear to save time.

When she came out of her bedroom the music had stopped and the tv was playing softly. She smiled, he'd cleaned the mess of their water fight up in the kitchen. She turned to thank him and found he was laid out on the couch, the blanket had fallen away and he was laying in his boxers sprawled out asleep. Stifling a giggle she pulled the blanket up and covered him, switching off the tv before going to bed herself. "Goodnight Soul…" she murmured, closing her bedroom door softly behind her.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Another Chapter complete ;3 **

**In case anyone is wondering, the friends episode I was referring to earlier was the one where Rachel teaches Ross' son Ben to play pranks. So basically Ross gets mad and then he and Ben get back at her with a prank that results in her shrieking which I have always found hi-larious. It happened to be on tv while I was writing and it ended up in the chapter haha. **

**Also, the poetry reference is a result of my current classes XD I really liked the particular poem and the beginning of it fit the situation. I excluded the last verse as it didn't really work for what the dirty hippie was going for.  
><strong>

**Sooo yeah haha. Anyway, there is more to come! **

**Reviews = Loveloveloveeeee.**


	8. A Key

_Eight: A Key_

Maka fidgeted in her seat, her fingertips playing over the hem of her skirt nervously. Every part of her felt on edge. She was seated on an electric blue couch in between Soul and Patti. It was an odd place to be, Soul so stoically quiet on one side, Patti chattering away in a constant stream on the other. She tried to let her mind wander, to relax; it was a futile effort.

The whole band was seated in a wide, open lobby of a building downtown. It was done up in a modern sort of theme all strange angles and wide natural lights. She liked it. Her being uncomfortable didn't have to do with the setting, it was more the situation.

They were waiting for Kid. They'd been waiting for him for a good two hours now.

"When will he get baaaccckkk?" Liz whined, cheek rested in her palm, slumped forward in a white and purple egg-shaped chair. She groaned and leaned further forward, folding herself into a position Maka couldn't see as being very comfortable. Liz mumbled something unintelligible into her knees.

Soul leaned back, arms rested behind his head. "Who knows?" he yawned.

"How was your test earlier Maka?" Maka started, having been lost in thought beforehand.

"Sorry, what?" she replied.

"I asked how was your test?" Tsubaki smiled from her seat across the room. An electric blue chair that matched the couch.

"Oh, I think it was good. Then again I won't really know how I did for a few days at least."

"I'm sure you did great," she smiled again.

"You certainly studied enough bookworm." Soul muttered beside her, unable to resist putting in his own two cents. Maka punched him in the stomach, intending for it to be more playful than anything. He doubled up, clutching his stomach and wheezing. She covered her mouth in alarm.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to hit you that hard!"

"Damn it Maka!" He wheezed. She covered the rest of her face and groaned. Patti laughed loudly on the other side of her and Liz, who had sat up now, smirked from across the room.

Black Star had insisted on going with Kid, stating, 'he's the manager' and shouting about how important he is, how he needs to be around for the discussions. Kid had said they'd be back soon. That had been two hours ago. All the waiting was driving Maka crazy. She wished she'd brought a book to read.

The large white double doors at one end of the room creaked open. Kid's head popped into view.

"My father is ready to see you now. Sorry for the wait."

"Damn right you better be sorry." Liz mumbled as she stood.

They followed Kid through the doors and down a brightly lit hallway. Wide windows were spaced along the hall, giving the hall a golden sort of glow as the sunlight filtered through the glass. The others walked ahead, coming to a brightly painted door, the same colour as the electric blue furniture in the waiting room. Maka paused a moment as the others filed in, taking in the view of the city from the great height of the building.

"Maka?" she glanced behind her. Soul stood in the doorway, watching her as he always did. "Are you coming or what?" She nodded absently and pulled away from the window, following him into the room for a meeting that had the potential to change her life.

* * *

><p>Maka sat at her desk two days later, trying to focus on her paper she was writing but struggling. Her mind swirled with thoughts of the meeting a few days before. Kid's father had wanted them to sign then and there but Maka had refused; telling everyone she thought it best they think on it a couple of days.<p>

She worried that the others resented her reluctance. It was a number of things that held her back; school being the most obvious, the schedule he'd laid down was extreme and she didn't know how she'd have time for school. Also, she was afraid to sign with such a major label, afraid they would be forced to lose their sound and that it wouldn't be about the music anymore.

The sound of her pencil tapping on the page of her textbook echoed through the quiet room and her phone buzzed on the desk beside her. It skittered across the table a little with the force of its vibrations. Sighing she put the pencil down and picked up the phone, the little skull charm dangling from the antenna glittered in the lamplight.

**Soul: Hows the studying going bookworm? **Maka stretched and smiled a little. She'd told him she wasn't studying she was writing a paper about a hundred times but he didn't seem to be able to comprehend it.

**Maka: I'm not studying I'm writing a paper for my lit class. **

**Soul: w/e, wanna take a break?**

**Maka: Aren't you working? **Soul worked in a music store downtown. It wasn't a big place, privately owned but they had great equipment.

**Soul: When did u look the time last? I finished work 2 hours ago. **Startled Maka went to the curtain and peered outside, the sky had gone dark already. The time on the display of her phone read 10:00pm. She had been working on the paper for a good four hours. Time had slipped away from her. She wondered where Soul had been the past couple of hours, he'd gotten into the habit of coming to her place after work normally.

She moved back to her desk and her gaze fell on the shining silver key she'd had made earlier that day. She flushed at little at the thought of giving it to him and decided yet again she would wait. Her phone buzzed and she realized she'd forgotten to answer him.

**Soul: Maka?**

**Maka: What kind of break did you have in mind?**

**Soul: ill be outside in 5, meet me? **Maka sighed, he seemed intent on surprising her and being spontaneous. She decided she wouldn't give him a hard time this time.

**Maka: Kay.**

* * *

><p>The evening was relatively warm. The sky was clear, a deep indigo velvet, studded with tiny twinkling stars. Soul stood under the street lamp watching Maka approach. She zipped up her light jacket as she came to a stop beside him. Her hair was up in pigtails as usual and the wind played through the strands gently.<p>

"Well?" she asked. He offered his arm and she gave him a sceptical look before taking it, they set off down the road to wherever Soul had planned.

After a fairly long walk filled with idle chatter about their days; he brought her to the park. Waiting in the shallows of the wide pond, hidden by a clump of bushes was a small row boat.

Soul grinned his sharp toothed grin and helped her into the boat before pushing off and hopping in himself. The boat rocked a bit, the sound of it slapping against the water echoed in the quiet. He picked up a paddle and dipped it into the water.

"Were you planning this all day?" Maka asked with a tiny smile, she clutched her knees to her chest where she sat. Soul shrugged and looked past her out at the water. The cords of muscle in his arms stood out as he pulled the paddles through the water. He didn't say anything and she thought he might be embarrassed, it was too dark to really see but it looked like his cheeks might be tinged pink. "Why Mr. Evans I do believe you're a closet romantic aren't you?" she said teasingly. He shot her an annoyed look.

"Only the coolest guys know how to be romantic." He put the paddle down and the sound of it clattering into the bottom of the boat filled their ears for a moment. Reaching into the bottom of the boat he produced a bottle of wine and two glasses. He smiled. "And I am the coolest."

The two laid out side by side in the middle of the boat, they'd positioned themselves horizontally so their feet could dangle in the cool water. A tangle of limbs Soul had one of his legs thrown over Maka's. Flushed from the wine they'd polished off Maka tilted her head back, resting it comfortably in the warmth of the crook of Soul's arm. The sky looked like someone had crushed up a handful of diamond and tossed it into the air, out on water the light pollution of the city seemed so far away.

Maka yawned and tired as she was she kept her eyes open, not wanting to tear them away from the sky for anything.

"Soul, where did you get this boat anyways?" She felt his shrug rather than saw it.

"What does it matter?" She nudged him in the ribs.

"Why is it a secret?" He sighed.

"I rented it earlier in the day and then sort of…didn't return it at the end of my hour-"

"Soul!" He chuckled.

"I'll return it tomorrow don't get your panties in a knot." She scoffed and pinched him. He jumped a little in response and scooted away, the boat rocked heavily. "Ow Maka, what the hell?"

They fell silent for awhile, a comfortable silence. At some point they gravitated towards one another's warmth again, Maka tucked into the crook of his arm once more. Soul toyed with one of her pigtails absently as she traced patterns on one of his palms.

"So, tomorrow." Soul let the sentence hang in the air and he felt her tense beside him.

"Tomorrow." She repeated.

"We're supposed to meet with the others tomorrow and come to a decision." She sighed heavily.

"I know."

"Have you thought about it?"

"Not as much as I should of, my mind just keeps swirling around it but never really focusing in on the decision." The boat started to spin slowly in the water, the stars blurred and she closed her eyes.

"What do you want to do?"

"I don't know! I just-"

"You don't want to sign with the label?" Soul interrupted.

"No that's not it at all," she protested, "I'm scared if we sign with the label things will change."

"Things are bound to change Maka, they always change." He sat up a bit and touched her cheek lightly, turning her face to look at look at him.

"I'm afraid if we sign with the label they'll make us change, I don't want to sell out. What we are is good I think, we've got something great." Soul chuckled a little and she frowned, preparing to tell him off for mocking her.

"You honestly think Black Star would let that happen?" Her brow furrowed as she looked up at him. "Sure the guy can be an idiot sometimes but trust me, I've known him long enough to know he won't let that happen. He says he's the manager and he sure as hell is going to be a good one." Her green eyes were wide and glittered in the dark. "Besides, its not like we're gonna sign our lives away without reading what we're signing. How long do you have left for school?" he asked suddenly.

"Six months." He leaned forward a bit to look her in the eye with a serious expression.

"Close your eyes." He demanded, she gave him a suspicious look.

"What are you going to do?" He made an impatient noise.

"Nothing, just close them!" With one more suspicious glance she closed her eyes.

"When you think about the future, what is the ideal thing you picture? Picture it now."

Maka blushed a little, she felt embarrassed, silly as it sounded. She could feel Soul watching her. Eyes closed she knew he was studying her closely, every expression and movement he would catch.

"My ideal future…I-" she pictured music. Playing with the band. Travelling to other gigs. It was the first thing that came to mind. That and…to her chagrin, Soul. She tried to force the thought away, think of life if she turned down the deal, she'd be an English teacher most likely. What she imagined wasn't bad, but…it wasn't what she really wanted. If she went that route she would be content but she would always wish she had gone the other way. She knew this.

Honestly she'd always wanted it. She remembered when her Papa had handed her, her first guitar. How it had felt in her hands, the way it had made her feel when she'd first plucked at its strings so hesitantly. The first time she'd played with the rest of the band. How great it had felt for the song she'd written to come together. Their first performance, the thrill of having others hear the music she'd made. Each song a little piece of her that could share so openly.

She opened her eyes and blinked a little, looking up into Soul's crimson iris'. It was like he knew what she had imagined, what she had thought. He'd read it on her face she was sure. "We'll help you finish school. And we'll go over that contract more than a hundred times before we sign it." He told her softly. She nodded and they didn't speak about it anymore.

They shifted a little to sit up and something clattered out of Maka's pocket and into the bottom of the boat. Soul cocked his head and reached down to pick it up.

A single silver key, it winked at him as it reflected the moonlight. "What's this?" he asked. Maka's face had turned a brilliant shade of red and she looked down, twiddling her thumbs.

"It's a-a key." He snorted.

"Obviously. But I mean, what's it for? Why isn't connected to your key chain?"

"Um I-well…you see…since you've been around the apartment so much…you-you've been there every night and so I went and-" Soul's grin was wide and Maka glared at him, hating that this had happened.

"Its for me?" She opened her mouth, ready to tell him no and snatch the key back but she stopped. She closed her mouth and nodded stiffly. His mocking grin slipped into something a little more humble. He tucked the key into his pocket and picked up an oar, dipping it into the water he rowed them back to shore.

* * *

><p>The band sat around Black Star's attic, waiting for Maka and Soul to arrive. She'd just gotten off school and Soul had gone to pick her up.<p>

"Do you think she's going to say yes?" Liz wondered as she played with the cuff of Kid's suit, draped over his lap like usual. Kid laced his fingers with hers. Patti made a face at their public affection as Kid answered his girlfriends question.

"Of course, why wouldn't she? My fathers prepared to make you all a spectacular deal. He really wants you to sign. Not to mention Death Scythe Records is a huge label." Tsubaki shook her head and answered from where she sat.

"Its more than that, Maka has school remember?" She was seated on a large speaker and Black Star was leaned against it in front of her, practically in her lap.

"If she says no she'll have to answer to my god-like managing skills. I'll set her straight!" Tsubaki glared at him from behind.

"You'll do no such thing. We won't force Maka to do something she doesn't want. And we definitely won't make her feel bad for saying no." The Blue haired manager looked sheepish at the bassist's sharp tone.

At the top of the attic stairs a blonde and a snowy haired head appeared.

Soul strode ahead and flopped into the armchair. Maka paused a little further back, six pairs of eyes turned to her expectantly, curious for her answer.

"Well!" Patti asked eagerly. Maka's lips quirked in a smile and she nodded.

"Lets do it." She told them. The tension in the room broke and it seemed to explode with excitement, everyone leaping up to embrace her in a massive hug.

* * *

><p><strong>Woo...I re-wrote this chapter like six times before it became something I was satisfied with. Even now I'm not completely please : I hope you enjoyed it anyways though! I really appreciate the reviews and appreciate you bearing with me. **

**Because this update is so late it will be a double update to apologize...possibly a triple. (The third would be the final installment in this story)**

**Reviews are Loooveee :D**


	9. Time Flys

_Nine: Time Fly's_

_Two weeks_

"What about this one?" Maka sat down on a cushy looking black futon, she patted the seat next to her. Soul sat down beside her with an unsure expression.

"I dunno…sure the couch is comfy but what is it like when its folded out?" They both stood and pulled it out. It was particularly large.

"Will this even fit in the apartment when its pulled out?" She asked dubiously. Soul cocked his head as he mentally tried to decide if it would or not.

"Sure it will!" he said finally. Maka wrinkled her nose.

"I really don't think so…"

Soul fell back onto the pulled out bed. Maka stood beside it looking down at him with a doubtful expression. He put his hands behind his head and grinned at her.

"Its too big." She insisted. "Its bigger than my bed for goodness sake."

"But I want it." Soul told her. His words weren't even whiny, they were blunt and said in a tone as if this were the best and most obvious reason for buying it. Maka rolled her eyes.

"This is definitely not the one." Soul sighed and rolled off the bed.

They were in Ikea, in search of a futon to replace the couch in Maka's living room. After much debate and whining from Soul about his back they decided they would go halves on a futon for Soul to sleep on when he stayed over. Incidentally he was there every night and now that Maka had given in and provided him with a key she figured it was little use for her argue against this now.

They wandered through the brightly lit rows of futons on display. Maka loved Ikea, the way everything was set up as rooms. It had always been a private dream of hers to own a house with rooms designed like the displays in Ikea. Soul had laughed at her when she had told him this which had resulted in her shoving him roughly into a stand of dinosaur shaped ice trays.

Stopping in front of a navy blue futon Maka gestured to it, "How about this one?"

"I don't like the colour."

"But it matches the curtains and it'll go nicely with the colour of the walls."

"What, white?" He scoffed. "Everything looks good with white Maka." She lifted an eyebrow at him and moved forward determinedly to open it up. She laid down.

"Maka it looks kind of small."

"Its fine, lay down." She grabbed his arm and pulled him down, he flopped down beside her.

However Soul hit the bed a little too hard; there was creak and a snap, the futon folded in on itself. Maka squealed and Soul made a slightly more manly sound of alarm. Squished between the cushions Maka groaned. "You idiot!" She exclaimed, only to realize Soul was laughing from where he was crushed into the mattress beside her.

"Oh this is the one!" He managed through his laughter. If Maka's hands had been free she would have face palmed at his ability to laugh at this embarrassing situation. She was glad it was the middle of the week so the store wasn't as busy. It was only a moment before she felt a laugh bubble up inside her too and then she was unable to stop. They two of them laughing hysterically wrapped up in the futon.

_Eight weeks_

The smoke bomb exploded on screen and Black Star laughed maniacally as he proceeded to annihilate everyone within the smoke screen he'd created. Soul yawned from his place on the couch beside him. It was a Saturday afternoon, Maka had kicked him out of the apartment so she could study in peace so he'd decided to go visit Black Star. His blue haired friend was not proving to be the best company though.

"Much as I love sitting around watching you play videogames 'Star I think I'm gonna go."

Black Star put down the controller and gave his friend an irritated look. "When did you become such a pussy?" he sneered. "You haven't asked or even tried to bully your way into playing. You just wanna go back to _Maka _don't you?" he made an unimpressed noise. "Whipped." Soul's eyebrows lifted.

"Says the man who went shopping yesterday afternoon with a woman." Black Star scoffed.

"That was with Tsubaki that's not the same." Soul laughed a little at that.

"How is that not the same? Are you saying she's not a woman?" his expression clearly said, 'yikes'. "Don't let her hear you say that." The blue-haired band manager paled.

"Er- don't tell her I said that. That's not what I meant." He tugged a hand through his hair. "A big star like me doesn't need to worry." It sounded more like he was trying to convince himself than Soul. "Besides, you slept with her what, once? Then you didn't get any after that did you? What kind of man lets a girl control everything like that."

"A cool one. And at least I slept with her once. How many times did you sleep with Tsubaki? Let me think."

He made a face, pretending to count it out. '_Never._' Came a sly cough from the hallway. Kid emerged with a box of pizza and a six pack. Soul laughed at their friends interjection. "You two idiots clearly know nothing about women. Did you both forget I have Liz? And I get _regular sex._" He sat down with a smug expression. "Clearly I am the manliest of us all."

Their time together went on like this with taunting and jeering at one another. Soul didn't leave as he'd planned and he actually enjoyed his afternoon with the boys. Though to avoid being ridiculed he kept the fact that he was texting Maka the whole time a secret.

_Twelve weeks_

'_Let's not pretend-' _Maka's head snapped to the radio. The morning light filtered in golden through the car window as they drove. That was _her _voice coming out of the radio, that was Tsubaki's bass line thrumming out the speakers, Liz's guitar, Patti's drums, Soul's piano. This was _their _song, playing on the radio for everyone to hear.

Her heart pounded excitedly and she turned to look at Soul in the drivers seat. "Soul!" he was already grinning as well. She whipped her head around to grin at Tsubaki and Black Star in the back. "This is our song!" she squealed in a rather undignified manner as they broke into the chorus on the radio.

She whipped out her phone and dialled Liz's number, she picked up on the first ring. "Turn to 97.9!" She commanded. She had to pull the phone away from her ear for a moment as Liz screeched excitedly on the other end, she could hear Patti as well on the other end and Kid laughing at the girls excitement in the background. They were following behind them in another car.

This was their first real day off in months, they'd been working non stop on their album in the recording studio. So with that they had decided to go on a day trip to the nearby mountains.

Maka couldn't get over that this was their song on the radio. It was…incredible. She wanted to get up and dance and if she weren't in the car she probably would have. Black Star leapt forward leaning in between the seats to reach the radio. "Turn it up!" he exclaimed unnecessarily as he reached for the dial himself. Their song blared out of the speakers and Soul rolled down the windows. Black Star grinned and high-fived him as the sunlight and the wind rushing past the car swooped in ruffling their hair.

Maka closed her eyes and let herself hang partway out the window soaking in the sunshine as they rushed down the highway. Their song came to an end and the DJ came on the radio.

'_And that was new on the scene, Death City Kid with their first single 'Burning!' I don't know about you all out there but I'm diggin' the track and can't wait to hear more from them!'_

_Sixteen weeks_

She was asleep on the couch, curled up in a patch of sunshine on the futon. The navy blue futon was pulled out, he'd forgotten to put it back when he'd left to meet Black Star that morning. Maka was curled up with an open book laying near her, forgotten. Each soft breath made her chest rise and fall gently.

Soul smiled a little and put down the bag of groceries on the table. He went to the futon and sat next to her quietly. The sun made her skin glow and her hair shine. As he'd thought before, the way she gravitated towards patches of sun reminded him of a cat.

He picked up the book she'd been reading to examine it. _'A Midsummer Night's Dream.' _She re-read this one often he found. It was one of her favourites. She stirred a little and mumbled something in her sleep. "Soul." His heart stopped.

Her voice was just a breath, so soft, but he was sure that she had said his name in her sleep. He couldn't stop the pleased smile that spread over his face. She would never believe him if he told her about this when she was awake, she would deny and shout and make faces at him. It didn't matter though. He knew she'd said it and to him that was all that mattered.

_Twenty weeks_

The bar was quiet, it was a Wednesday night so nobody was really around. Maka sat at the bar with her books open in front of her. She was studying for her finals. There was a clink as her Papa put a strawberry milkshake down on the counter next to her.

She smiled a little and her father leaned in grinned madly. "Maka my darling I'm so happy you came here to do your studying!" She rolled her eyes. Blair grinned as she leaned across the bar suggestively as she wiped it down. She didn't seem to be capable of doing anything without being suggestive.

"I didn't really have a choice." She mumbled. Maka had left the apartment to study as Soul had been much to distracting for her to focus.

Recently they'd begun being more…physical? with one another. Maka wasn't really sure how it happened but suddenly they had started holding hands, cuddling, occasionally kissing. All innocent enough. Since they had started this Soul hadn't been able to keep his hands off of her. Every time they were together in the apartment whatever they were doing turned into a make out session. It was ridiculous, childish. They were acting like hormone addled teenagers. Though in all honesty she liked it.

The door opened and a breeze blew in from outside. Soul entered and Maka rolled her eyes as he approached her with a grin.

"What are you doing here? I came here to get away from you…" Soul grinned.

"I missed you obviously." he told her mockingly. Blair cooed about how sweet it was and gave Soul a hug, pressing his face into her breasts. Maka sighed heavily and took a sip of her drink. Soul slipped into the seat next to her with a slightly red face, placing a stack of papers and a yellow folder in front of her. "Actually I volunteered to drop off these for you to vote on."

Maka put down her drink and delicately wiped her lips as she picked up the yellow folder and opened it up. "What is it?" Several large photos of different artwork slid out into her hands. Her gaze flicked up to look at him with a surprised expression.

"They're artwork for the album cover, they want us to decide which once we like best for it." Maka spread the photos over the table. One of the six photo's was of the band. Maka immediately flipped it over, Soul caught her wrist. "What are you ruling out that one for?" She made a face.

"It looks gimmicky, also I don't like how they put me in the front."

"You're the lead singer, you're always in the front." Soul said simply. She frowned and just shook her head.

"You're the prettiest, you belong in the front!" Spirit said in a sickeningly sweet tone. Rolling her eyes she ignored him, choosing to try and explain to Soul why she didn't like it.

"We're a band, it shouldn't be all about one person. It's about all of us…and the music. Therefore I think it should be something that reflects the feel of the album that goes on the cover." She pointed to a photograph in the running. "I like this one."

'DWMA,' written in curling script. A glowing soul with shining wings. Their band name written below.

"Y'know I'm a terrible band member. I've been with you guys for months now and I still don't know what that stands for." Soul told her with a sheepish grin. Maka smiled.

"Dream with me always. It's a lyric from the first song I ever wrote. The song was terrible. Except for that lyric, it just…stuck with us." She laughed and her face lit up, radiant. Soul wanted to kiss her. He would have if her father hadn't been glaring at him from across the bar.

_Six Months_

"_Maka Albarn."_

In cap and gown Maka walked across the stage in the amphitheatre, thunderous applause echoing throughout the excellent acoustics of the room. She could hear a particularly rowdy group calling her name, hooting and whistling. She couldn't suppress her grin as she shook hands with Professor Stein and he handed her, her diploma.

With a little bow and a wave to her band mates she scurried off the stage.

* * *

><p>"We're so proud of yooouu," Liz pulled her into a bone crushing hug, the taller girl squeezed her tightly, squealing in her ear excitedly. Maka groaned.<p>

"Liz, you're-crushing-me." Her friend released her with a smile but she was drawn into another hug by Patti. Then by Tsubaki, though granted not so bone crushing. Then Kid shook her hand warmly with congratulations. Black Star patted her on the back roughly and tried to bump fists to her distaste. Her father whimpered about how excited and proud he was of her, rivalling Liz with his bone-crushing hug.

As each of them gave her their congratulations they stepped aside. Soul was last, smiling his sly, shark toothed smile.

The past six months had been a whirlwind. Busy as they were they had been the best six months Maka had experienced in awhile. They'd been in the recording studio a lot of the time, their first official album was pretty much ready for release. One more month Kid's Father had said. They were going to release another single on the radio first to peak some more interest and proceed to release the album afterwards.

School had been hard but as Soul had promised everyone had helped her through it. Now she was graduating, her schooling complete. She'd finished with honour's to her own surprise, though the others told her time and time again it shouldn't have been.

And best of all, she hadn't heard from Chris since that night in the alley. Part of her worried about that, he always went away for awhile and then came back full force. She hadn't had too much time to think on it in truth, recording and other band related tasks took up a lot of her time.

"Good work bookworm." Soul told her with a grin. Awkwardly they hugged one another very aware of Maka's father watching them. He slipped his arm around her waist. "Lets go get some dinner."

* * *

><p>Maka sat outside on the balcony at home after a raucous celebration dinner with her friends. She clutched a small stiff piece of paper. It was becoming worn from how much she'd handled it in the short time she'd had it. Soul being one of the few, scratch that, the only sober one besides Maka; was dropping everyone off.<p>

The stiff piece of paper was in fact a post card she'd received the day before. It hadn't left her possession since, having being folded and refolded to fit in her pocket a multitude of times.

It was a postcard from her mother, a picture of a castle somewhere overseas on the front. She'd have to ask Soul if he'd ever been there when he got home. Sometimes he told her stories from his time travelling. She flipped it over and re-read the simple sentence again. '_I'm proud of you_' was all it said. Other people might find it disappointing or too short considering it was the first they'd heard from their mother in months but to Maka it was perfect. Or so she told herself. Tears of frustration and a still denied disappointment stung her eyes.

"Maka?" Her stomach twisted uncomfortably. That wasn't Soul's voice saying her name. She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket of her jeans and she knew that was Soul texting her everyone else was too drunk. Why would he text her if he was already home? He wasn't.

"No…" she whispered with wide eyes, still not daring to turn and face him. Knowing already who it was.

* * *

><p><strong>Wooooo another update right away! Hooray! This chapter's purpose was mainly show time passing...I think if I'd drawn out the 6months passing it would have gotten very boring and pointless. The plan is to finish this today! One chapter left! <strong>

**For anyone following 'High Seas and Golden Skies' I will be updating that shortly as well. Also I will be releasing the beginning of a new story as well!**

**I hopefully should be able to get the Final Chapter up here right away!**

**Reviews are love!**

**-Song! :3**


	10. A Bullet

_Ten: A Bullet_

She didn't need to turn to look at him it seemed. He approached her without invitation, his lips at her ear. "I'm a little offended you didn't invite me to your graduation." He whispered, his breath hot on her neck, he brushed her hair away to press his lips against it. She stiffened, not moving, not daring to breathe. "It's alright, I forgive you. I was there anyways. A beautiful ceremony and the dinner afterward looked so _fun."_

"Why are you here?" she breathed. "How did you get in here?"

"You had a key made a few months ago. It was easy enough to _persuade _the clerk to make one for me too."

Suddenly his hands were on her, gripping her arms from behind. "Why did you make_ him _a key Maka?" he spat ferociously in her ear. "You are _mine _Maka. He has no business having a key to our apartment!"

"Chris please…just leave," she murmured a tear escaping from under her lashes and rolling down her cheek. He pulled away abruptly.

"I also noticed his _stuff _in our apartment Maka. His toothbrush in the bathroom. His clothes in the hamper. His _possessions _everywhere. CD's, posters, movies, his laptop, his handwriting on grocery lists on the fridge. Pieces of him, traces of him everywhere. He thinks he can possess you too, thinks he already has." Chris scoffed. "Not likely. You are mine. You were always mine Maka."

He grabbed her by the arm roughly, she could feel the bruises blossom on her flesh as he forced her to stand. The postcard fluttered from her grasp, landing on the balcony face down. The single sentence from her mother staring up at her like a beacon. _'I'm proud of you'. _

Chris dragged her into the living room and threw her onto floor. Maka was silent the whole way, she glared up at him, her green eyes burning like venom. "What the fuck do you want Chris?" Anger was burning like a fire in her belly. He looked surprised at her curse but he smiled a little. Something about him was different, wilder. He'd always been crazy but now he seemed to be completely gone.

"What I've always wanted. You." He said softly. She eyed the apartment door, so close, she wasn't strong but she was fast. She knew she could beat him to the door.

"You can't have me," she snarled. "I've told you that before how many times do I have to say it before you get it through your thick skull?" He moved forward and crouched in front of her, he stroked her hair.

"I wish you wouldn't say such hurtful things. I know you don't mean it. I love you, you know that, and you love me too." His voice was a whisper as he tried to force her green eyes to meet his blue.

Resolved, Maka threw her head back and then snapped it forward, smashing her skull into his face. She saw stars but managed to keep her head. Chris swore loudly as he fell back in surprise, clutching his nose, blood spurted out between his fingers but Maka didn't wait to examine him any further. She rose and darted towards the door, she felt him grab for her as she leapt by but he only clutched at empty air.

She slammed against the door in her haste and started to fiddle with the knob to get it open, she cursed when she realized he'd locked it.

_'Click'._ Maka's heart stopped and she turned slowly, her back pressed against the door hand still on the knob. Chris stood a few steps away with a gun in hand, its barrel pointed at her directly. He held his bleeding nose with his other hand. "Pretty sure you broke my nose stupid bitch," he hissed. "How many times do I have to say it? There is no use fighting it, you are mine and you always will be." He gestured with his gun for her to move away from the door. "Get back in the living room." He demanded, Maka did as he asked.

* * *

><p>The slam of the car door closing echoed in the parking lot. Soul frowned at his phone, Maka hadn't answered him in the last half an hour and they'd been texting consistently before them. He clutched it tightly, maybe she'd fallen asleep?<p>

After dinner she'd been tired and decided to go home instead of come along for the ride to drive everyone to their respective houses. Not that there was really room for her to ride along anyways. He paused, noticing the balcony door was left open. Maka had strict rules about that, she'd told him off on multiple occasions to close it when he came inside or he'd let bugs in. Maybe she had fallen asleep after coming inside? It felt unlikely.

He stopped at the apartment entrance, on the ground in front of the door was a postcard. His frown deepened and he crouched to pick it up. Their address was written on it and a single sentence. This was Maka's, from her mother. He remembered bringing it in with the rest of the mail the day before. Now his slight suspicion was evolving into a fearful worry. Soul straightened, tucking the post card into his pocket.

He climbed the stairs a little faster than he usually would. Soul reached the door and unlocked it. "Maka?" he called into the dark apartment. Lights from the cars outside passing flashed across the walls. There was no immediate answer. Perhaps he'd worried for nothing? He tossed his keys into the bowl on the shelf with a clatter. He turned the corner into the living room. "Maka are you here?"

Soul froze at the entrance to the living room, his heart almost stopping.

A kitchen chair had been dragged into the living room, sitting on the chair in the patch of faint light stretching out from the balcony doorway was Maka. She had been tied to the chair, her arms bound together behind it, legs tied to the chair's legs to keep her from getting up. She'd been gagged as well, a strip of tape across her mouth.

Her viridian eyes were wide and fearful above the gag, the left one blackened and bruised. Tears stained her cheeks as she tried to say something to him, voice muffled, though her panic and urgency was apparent. He moved towards her, anger at whoever had done this and fear for Maka melded together into one emotion; it twisted in his gut. Who was he kidding? He knew who had done this.

Maka was still urgently trying to tell him something, practically screaming, the tape making it a pained squeaking sort of sound. Her eyes locked onto something behind him, Soul whirled but too late, the vase Maka kept flowers in on the mantle smashed over his head. He barely had time to move away, though the small amount he did manage to move allowed him to remain conscious at least.

A crazed looking Chris charged him, a dazed Soul didn't get out of the way in time and the two went tumbling. They crashed into the coffee table, it split and glass from cups that had been sitting on it shattered. A deck of cards Maka and Soul had been playing with the night before scattered across the room.

Soul ended up on his back. Chris lifted his hand to strike him, a piece of metal glinted as a flashing light from a car outside passed over them. _A gun. _Soul realized in alarm. He threw Chris off of him and rolled to the side, the two of them scrambled to stand.

The blonde held the gun out as Soul tried to grab what he could to serve as a weapon. Soul froze and Chris grinned. "Not so tough now huh? Don't fucking move."

Chris stepped over the broken glass and moved around the room to stand by Maka again. "You couldn't stay away could you." Chris hissed. "She isn't yours. She never was." He glared. "I've heard your little band on the radio. It was better before you joined." He muttered, toying with Maka's hair with one hand as he pressed the barrel of the gun into her cheek. His wild eyes snapped up to look at Soul again. "She doesn't love me anymore you know…" he said quietly. He sounded more sad than he had any right to be. "Or at least she thinks she doesn't...I know better."

Soul's heart thundered inside her chest, his breaths coming in sharp pants. This guy was completely unpredictable at this point, clearly he'd lost what little sense he'd had in the past six months. Maka's cheek was squished against the barrel of the gun, Chris pressed a little harder. "It doesn't matter what I do she'll try to go back to you," he said softly. It was more like he was talking to himself than to either of them. Like he was talking himself through the situation, deciding what to do. Soul trembled with the need to pull Chris away from her.

The gun came away from Maka's cheek to be aimed at Soul again. Maka made a panicked sound. It amazed him, despite the situation, that she could be so calm when the gun was shoved into her cheek but practically lose her mind when it was aimed at him. The gun's barrel left a red, round imprint on her cheek just above the duct tape.

"I suppose I could just kill you," Chris said calmly to him, his blue eyed gaze unflinching. The gun lowered a little. "But then she'd hate me." His attention turned back to Maka, using the gun to toy with the strands of her hair. A loving yet also frightening gesture. "She'll never love me again if I get rid of you." He sighed heavily, a despairing look on his face. "She's been wearing her hair down more often because of you. You told her you liked it didn't you?" Soul paled, wondering how he could have possibly known that. They had been alone when he'd told her that, or so he'd thought.

Chris' breath quickened as his free hand trailed over Maka's neck, still playing with her hair. "Can't kill you…can't let you have her…the only solution I can see is to get rid of Maka. I'll shoot her and then shoot me." He pressed the gun against her again. "Then we'll be together." He cocked the gun.

The chair tilted and Maka threw herself at him, at some point during Chris' whole conversation with himself she'd managed to pull her legs free. Her hands still bound behind her back she managed to detach herself from the chair at least. Her and Chris fell in a tangle of limbs.

A passing car's light blinded Soul temporarily. The gun went off.

"Maka!" he shouted with a strangled cry. Soul caught sight of them, Maka was trying to wrestle the gun away even still bound as she was. Chris was able to move more freely though, he backhanded her and she gave a small muffled squeak before falling back. Soul ran to her and dropped to the floor beside her. He pulled the duct tape from her mouth in one swift movement. "Are you okay?" he whispered, clutching her cheeks. She nodded with wide eyes. "Soul you have to get out of here," she whispered desperately. He gave her an angry look. Before he could unbind her hands Chris regained his composure, and cocked the gun again, pointing it at Maka once more.

"Stop just stop!" Chris shouted. "She isn't your's get away from her!"

Chris pulled the trigger and Soul leapt forward directly into the path of the bullet. He barely made a sound, only a small hiss of pain escaped him despite the searing pain he felt. The gun was batted away from Chris' hands, skittering across the floor. Soul collapsed and Chris howled with rage, his hands wrapped around Soul's throat, preparing to choke the life out of him. As much as he tried to fight against it Soul was swallowed up by the darkness of his unconscious mind.

* * *

><p>With a surge of strength Maka shoved Chris, he released Soul who collapsed. The two former lovers grappled. Maka's burst of adrenaline giving her a strength she'd never known she had. The image of Soul bleeding out on the floor flashed behind her eyelids with every blink and egged her on. Chris pushed her against the wall by the open balcony door roughly. Maka spat in his eyes and he cursed, pulling away to rub them clean so he could see. With a well placed kick she struck him in the gut and he fell back into the balcony railing, toppling over the side.<p>

She covered her mouth in horror with both hands as Chris disappeared over the side. His shriek of horror echoed in her head along with the sickening sound of him striking the pavement five stories below. Her lip trembled at what she'd done but she had no time to think on it, she rushed to where Soul had fallen.

His shirt was already stained crimson from the wound, crimson like his eyes she thought hysterically.

Horrified she clutched his hand for a moment, tears spilling down her cheeks. "I love you, I love you, I love you." She chanted under her breath as she pressed her hands to his wound to try and stop the bleeding. Her words fell on deaf ears as he still lay unconscious. She pulled out her phone with one hand and dialed '911', the blood smearing across the numbers and then across her cheek as she held it to her ear with her shoulder, using her other hand to press down on the wound as well. Through broken sobs she told the lady at the emergency dispatch what had happened.

* * *

><p>Soul's eyes peeled open. The room was a bright, clinical white. He was laying in a hospital bed. It was raining outside lightly; the drops pattering against the slightly open window, the smell of the rain permeated throughout the room. The room was filled with flowers and cards, a bunch of helium balloon's with smiling face's floated nearby. His chest ached and his arm felt uncomfortable and stiff where an IV had been placed in it. He realized he was dressed in a hospital gown and his one hand was warm, or a small part of it anyways.<p>

Soft breath's besides his own made him realize there was someone else in the room besides himself. His red eyes fell on Maka, seated in a chair pulled up close to the bed. She had fallen asleep, partially slumped over on the sheets; her small hand clutching his tightly. He gently removed it and wrapped his hand around hers instead, her small hands were swallowed up in his own, he squeezed it lightly.

A piece of her hair fluttered as she puffed out each breath, blowing it out of her bruised and beaten face where it had fallen. He smiled a little and reached to brush it out of her face. He hissed in pain at the movement and leaned back. Maka stirred where she lay, her eyes fluttered and she sat up when she realized he was awake.

"Soul," she breathed. She choked a little on a sob and he shushed her softly.

"Please don't cry," he whispered. Her lips pressed together in a thin line as she wiped her eyes with her free hand, he still clutched her other in his own. "It's okay." He told her. She pulled her hand from his and he felt as if someone had ripped away an essential part of himself, like an arm or a leg.

"It's not okay," she told him. "I-this wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for me-I-this is all my fault-" She sniffled a little and sat back. The most painful and sad expression on her face, he wanted it to stop, wanted her to smile. "I know you probably never want to see me again," she began. His stomach dropped and his eyes went wide in shock. She barely took a breath as her rant went on. "And it's going to be hard with the band and everything-I can be mature about this it doesn't have to effect everyone else-I'm sorry I'm here I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am-and to make sure you were okay before I left-I'm going to gather all your stuff together at the-"

"Maka." Soul interrupted sharply. She stopped talking, inhaling sharply. "Why are you so stupid sometimes? For someone who reads so much you think you'd have more sense." Her lip trembled and she looked confused. "Maka I'm not going anywhere." He told her firmly. "And you can't make me."

Her sad and pained expression warped into one of confusion. He knew why she had thought he wouldn't want to see her anymore. She blamed herself for the whole situation with Chris and the last time someone she'd been seeing had been attacked by Chris they had stopped calling her and she'd never seen them again. She was assuming it would be the same this time the idiot.

He wouldn't do it. Couldn't do it. The thought of not seeing her everyday anymore seemed like the most preposterous and horrifying thing he could think of.

Tears were flowing freely down her face and he groaned a little inwardly. He hated to see her cry. "I wish you wouldn't do that." She hastily tried to wipe her eyes again.

"Sorry," she mumbled. He sighed and reached forward to grab her hands and pull them away from her face, ignoring the sharp pain he felt. "No, don't be sorry. You've done nothing wrong. Its just I hate that you're crying because of me." He told her.

Soul tugged on her arm, pulling her towards him, she stumbled forward a bit. He scooted over a little making room for her in the bed and then yanked her in beside him. She didn't argue or protest like usual, only slid in next to him. He clutched her against him ignoring how his body ached. Her face pressed against his side she wept for a solid few minutes, shoulders shaking. She told him what happened with Chris through her sobs and explained what had happened to him after he got shot. The bullet had nicked his heart, he'd been in a drug induced coma for three days. The others had been by several times but she hadn't left.

"I-I just…couldn't imagine what I would do if you had died…I just-all I could think was that I hadn't told you how much I-" he breath hitched and she hiccuped. His heart clenched.

"How much you what?"

"How much I- love you." She told him awkwardly.

"You too." He whispered as he pressed his lips against the top of her head. "I love you too. Who'd have thought cool guys and bookworms would go so well together?" She laughed a little and hiccuped again.

"Idiot," she mumbled.

* * *

><p><strong>And so...the end... <strong>

**I know the ending is cheese but I like it :D Cheese is always my favorite. **

**Anyways! That's it for this. If you enjoyed my writing and haven't already checked out 'High Seas an Golden Skies' give it a read :) I will be mainly focusing on that particular story now. **

**I am posting another story here right away actually, that one will be possibly a little neglected while I work on 'HSGS' but I was pretty stoked on how it started and am eager to share :)**

**Thank you for reading!**

**Reviews are always love. **

**-Song :3**


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